Code Israel:  Genesis
by The Universal Storyteller
Summary: This is an Alt. Universe & Alt. Timeline story, at least right now.  Two groups of virtual Warriors will now be present.  One Jeremy's, one Thomas's.  I really hope you all enjoy this here, of course.  Constructive comments, et cetera, are welcome, btw!
1. Chapter One:  The Beginning

All of the characters and the other story elements that are present in this story are entirely mine here, and are used fictitiously, unless otherwise stated. That is all. Now on with the story!

* * *

Chapter One: The Beginning

It was 7:45 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2007, in St. Peter, Minnesota, on an alternate Earth, when a young Caucasian man who was getting ready for the day ahead accessed one of his various electronic mail accounts. As he was still checking out his new mail through that account, about an hour or so later, at least, he also accessed several websites that he'd previously visited many times before in his life. He didn't yet know that, just because of his then doing so, his own life and the lives of many other people in his life were just about to change quite considerably in the future. But that was still unknown by him and others in his world, in fact.

A timer suddenly began to tick down without his knowledge, and it would hit zero later on, whenever that was. When it did finally hit zero, things then would change quite significantly indeed for him and others very soon afterward, if not immediately afterward.

He eventually finished checking his mail and visiting assorted sites all over the Internet, and left his family's residence in the St. Peter local area. He left his desktop computer in his room, and went with his older sister Angela to the local library. She was three years older than he was, and he was then 14 years old. His name was Thomas, and he had on a red T-shirt, black jeans, and white tennis shoes, when she took him there.

In fact, his full name was Thomas Joshua Prince, and he had a full head of reddish-brown hair that was just about shoulder-length, more or less. His face was clean, for he'd not yet experienced the first appearance of facial hair in his life. He had a relatively square jaw, but not entirely square, for that matter.. His eyes were a medium brown in color, and he had a pair of glasses with lenses that appeared mostly rectangular in shape in front of them perched on the average-sized bridge for his nose. His lips were moderately thin, and his mouth was of moderate size. His ears were of average size with attached lobes. All in all, he had a reasonably attractive, though not greatly attractive face. Or at least many people in his life thought that about his face.

He was now just about 5'5" and about 110 pounds, and he had a slightly muscular build to him here. However, he wasn't very muscled at the present time, if he ever would be, in his life. Thomas still had yet to experience his final growth spurt, unlike his sister, who was now at her adult height of 5'9" and adult weight of 145 pounds. Thomas was the first son and second child of Arthur and Margaret Prince. Thomas and Angela had a twelve-year-old brother named Silas and an eight-year-old sister named Rebecca, as well, in their own immediate family.

Thomas was about to start his freshman year at St. Peter High School, while Angela was about to start her senior year there. He had attended St. Peter High School since entering high school, as had his sister, in her own life. And before being assigned to St. Peter High School for his 7th Grade year in school, he had attended school at a now-closed Christian school in the St. Peter local area. His elementary school had closed after he'd finished 6th Grade there, due to lack of sufficient operational funds.

Angela dropped him off at the aforementioned library by 10 am local time, after he asked her to return for him by 4 in the afternoon. After she did, he soon began looking all over the library for many books that he might be interested in reading very soon, if and whenever possible. He spent much, if not all, of the next four to six hours reading or looking for books he might be able to check out for himself from there.

At 3:50 pm, he went to the front desk, and had the librarian then on duty begin checking out the books that he'd chosen to get for himself to read. She did so about a minute or two later, just as soon as she then could. It took about five or so minutes for all the books that he'd checked out to be taken care of as needed, and then that librarian let him leave with them, of course. He soon borrowed a cart, and began loading it up with the books that she'd just checked out to him. He'd just borrowed about 60 books, in fact. Most of them were assorted novels, but there were a few books of other kinds present as well, just the same.

Angela soon entered the library and headed directly for the front desk in it, knowing that he'd most likely still be around there by the time she found him in the library. As had quite often been the case whenever she'd brought him there, he was right where she'd expected him to be. She soon helped him bring out all his books to her mostly blue and gold custom-built four-door sedan. And then they both loaded them into her sedan's back seat, for all the obvious reasons, of course.

Thomas was a real bibliophile, for he read whenever he possibly could in his life. However, that habit would often get him in trouble scholastically, due to his often reading things not sufficiently related to his studies at times, in it. His grades were generally in the C-range, when they conceivably could have been at least in the B-range, due to that particular habit of his. About the only subjects that he currently did rather well in were Physical Education and English, more or less. Math was mostly a problem for him, and so were Science and History classes, to at least some degree, if not to a great degree.

He had no idea that in the near future, he would meet assorted people that he'd never actually met before in his life. And neither did those people yet know of his existence in the world, for that matter. They had yet to encounter each other in their respective lives, for various reasons not yet known to any or all of them.

Within thirty or so minutes after their departure from the library, Angela had pulled her sedan into their family's driveway again and helped Thomas unload all his newly-gained books from her sedan and take them all up to his bedroom in their family's four-bedroom red brick country house. He shared one bedroom with Silas, she shared a second with Rebecca, their parents shared a third, and the last bedroom in the house was a guest bedroom on the second floor of it. Of course, their parents' own bedroom was the largest one in the house, for the obvious reasons.

After they'd done that well enough to suit both of them quite sufficiently, Thomas said, "Angie, you may leave me alone with these books now, if you'd like."

Angela, who was often known to wear blue and gold-colored outfits in her life, said, "As you wish, Thomas. Supper should be ready at 7 pm, I think. Mother is expecting to make spaghetti and meatballs, I believe, based on what she told me while you were still at the library."

"Okay. Thank you for your assistance earlier, then."

"You're welcome, Tom." She then winked at him as she left his and Silas's bedroom. When she was gone, and the door was shut behind her securely enough, he opened one of the books he'd just gotten from the library and began reading from it. He read until he was paged for supper through an intercom system present in the house, in fact. Then he set aside the book he'd just been reading on top of his desk, after closing it, and went to the upstairs bathroom to clean himself up before supper. Five minutes after entering that bathroom, he was downstairs in the dining room, just about to sit down at their family's oval-shaped table.

Supper lasted until 7:30, and Tom often conversed with his parents and siblings about various things of importance to any or all of them. After supper, then, he was released for the rest of the night, and he soon went back upstairs to his and Silas's bedroom for the rest of it. He resumed reading the book he'd been reading just before supper, and continued reading it until about 10 pm or so. Then he checked his mail and certain websites for a little while before bed. He was done attending to the necessary online things on his computer by 11:15 pm, in fact. After he knew that well enough, he then shut down his computer, and got ready for bed. He was in bed again by 11:30, and quite soundly asleep not more than ten or so minutes after that time, for that matter.

* * *

Just about two weeks later, Thomas was at his school, and it was almost lunch time for him and the rest of his current history class there. When his current class ended, then, and the bell rang, he and the rest of his classmates were dismissed, of course. On his way to the school cafeteria, it was just about 11:42 in the morning when he first met up with one of the other people that would come to be very important to him in his life, but that he'd not yet had the chance to meet before in it.

This person that he rather unexpectedly encountered on his way to the aforementioned school cafeteria was a young girl in his grade, but not in any of his classes. Or at least not as of the current time, anyway. She was then in a mostly maroon and silver outfit, as opposed to his navy blue, red, black, and white one. She was about two inches taller and about fifteen pounds heavier than he was. He didn't yet know her name, and she didn't yet know his, but they would learn them soon enough. In a sudden burst of inspiration, she suddenly asked him, "Young man, would you by any chance care to eat lunch with me today?"

"I don't know. Why do you ask, young miss?"

"I can't explain it well enough right now, if I ever will be able to, but I just felt this feeling that I had to ask you to do that here and now, young man."

He thought about that for a few brief moments, as they both moved toward the school's cafeteria. And then, just as suddenly as she'd asked him if he'd be willing to eat lunch with her on the current day, he said, "I suppose I could do that, in fact. I would like to know your name before I do, however."

"My name is Scarlett. Scarlett Relsena, just so you know. What's yours, then?"

"I'm Thomas. Thomas Prince, by the way."

"Pleased to meet you here, then, Mister Prince."

"My friends call me Tom, quite often. I somehow have this feeling that you often will do the same as well, Miss Relsena."

"Only time will tell, of course. My own friends often call me Letta, for your information."

A few minutes later, then, both of them received their lunch items and found a still-empty table elsewhere in the cafeteria. They consumed them in a reasonably fast manner, though not too fast, for the obvious reasons. When they were done having them, they decided to walk together for a little while. Seeing as they still had about five or so minutes to themselves before they would have to part from each other here.

They decided to go to the school gym for a while, just to kick back for a few minutes, at least. So they did. And they watched other people shoot hoops while they did so. Among those people they watched were two more students who would also be part of a group that they'd all form with each other. One was mostly in green and gold, and another was in purple and orange. Both were boys, by the way.

All of a sudden, one of the boys' shots went awry, due to another boy's blocking of a shot, and the ball headed almost directly for Scarlett, as she and Tom were sitting on a stage elsewhere in the gym. She instantly began watching it fly toward her. As it was just about to pass over her own head, she rather suddenly shot up out of a sitting position with her legs having been positioned in front of the rest of her. And she then did a flying leap with a full somersault in the air while grabbing it just below a navy blue curtain elsewhere on the gym's stage. She snared it rather easily, and while she was still in the air, even threw in a full twist here, for good measure. As she did that full twist, she also whipped it back very quickly at the boy whose shot had just gone awry rather unexpectedly. Five or so seconds later, she then landed quite easily on her feet, and rather gently, as well. Everyone then in the gym went quite silent, quite naturally enough, for the obvious reasons.

She soon saw and heard that, and then very quietly asked Thomas, "What, Thomas?"

"How did you do that, Scarlett?" He was, of course, quite astonished about what she'd just did here.

"Really, I don't know. I honestly wish I did." A little while later, then, she and everyone else who'd still been in the gym left it, for all the obvious reasons, of course. And she eventually had to part from Tom again, also for those very same reasons.

A few hours later, Thomas and Scarlett's school day was over. As was everyone else's, at least for the students. Before they could part for the rest of the day, then, if necessary, two of the boys from before in the gym came up to them both. The boy in green and gold asked them to come with him and the other boy. Tom and Scarlett looked briefly at each other, just before Angela was about to come up to Tom here as she often would after school.

Then Scarlett asked, a few seconds later, "Who are you two, and why do you want us to come with you both now?"

The boy in purple and orange said, "I am Gawain McDougal, and this other boy is Sylvester Woodhaven. We really need your help right now. It seems that there's someone calling for help elsewhere in the area. Please come with us."

"Where are they, as far as you know, Gawain?" asked Thomas.

"They seem to be trapped in some sort of building somewhere nearby. I can hear them from about a quarter-mile away, in fact."

"How so?" asked Scarlett, not yet understanding how they could do that somehow, of course.

"I don't really know. I just know that I do. And Sylvester here seems to think that they're not in a very comfortable situation at the current time, for some reasons. Almost as if they're caught in some sort of cage or something somewhere nearby," said Gawain, who was a boy with dyed orange hair and elbow-length gloves that were mostly orange with purple trim for them. Mostly purple musical notes and miniature microphones were also present on those gloves for him every so often.

Sylvester Woodhaven, on the other hand, looked quite like a woodsman, with a mostly green and gold tunic, matching trousers, and black high-top boots. In his left hand, he currently held an axe, while in his other, he held nothing. He also was wearing a nearly matching backpack, for that matter.

Just as Angela was about to tap Thomas on the shoulder, from behind him, Thomas saw her out of the corner of his left eye. He suddenly said, "Angela, I won't actually be riding home with you this afternoon, it seems. Apparently I'll have to help these kids here and now for some yet-unknown reason. Please tell Mom and Dad I'll find my own way home somehow, please."

Angela came around to stand in front of him briefly, and asked, "Are you sure, Thomas?"

"Yes, I am, Angela. I'll bring my own things home later. I'll try not to be back home too late, if I possibly can do that here." Tom shot Angela a very determined look that she had often seen from him in the past. After she saw it, she immediately realized he was up for absolutely no debate about the current situation here, whatever it might actually be.

"Very well, Thomas. Please try to be as careful as you possibly can be, then, if you must actually go with these kids elsewhere, okay?"

"Of course, Angela." Then Angela wasted no more time at all by still sticking around him and his current companions here. She was at least a little bit worried that he was about to get himself and others in somewhat considerable danger, but she still left, just the same.

When she was gone from his presence sufficiently well, Thomas said, "If we're going to do this, then, everyone, let's go where we have to, so that we can hopefully find and rescue this other person from where they now are, somehow."

By 3:40, then, the quartet had come to an apparently abandoned building of some sort. This building, in fact, had actually been a good-sized warehouse when in active use. But it was no longer in active use, for its original owner had not kept up with its maintenance in the recent past, and had basically forgotten about it, as well. So it was currently in a state of ever-increasing disrepair. Several parts of the building had begun to suffer the natural effects of little or no maintenance being done for it and in it, as a direct result of its virtual abandonment by its original owner. There were some parts that were sufficiently in good shape, but not as many as there should have been, in actual reality.

The quartet carefully picked their ways through assorted considerably-damaged areas of the building, by sheer necessity, until they all found themselves in a large room that seemed to be the main control center of the entire building. A rather good-sized computer system was in the exact center of that room, and two elevator shafts were along the wall opposite the door they'd just passed through in order to access that room. They all looked around the room here, and Thomas was somehow drawn to the computer first, for some yet-unknown reason here. He soon sat down behind it, in an often-adjustable chair. The other three looked at it and the computer's main screen from over his shoulders, just as soon as they could do that well enough here.

After looking at the computer and its various components for several moments, at least, Thomas soon said, "Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain, it seems you three need to access the elevator shaft directly behind my right shoulder. That should take you all to a room one level below this one in this building's complex. You should all then find yourselves in a room with eight mostly-translucent telephone booth-like cabinets of some sort. Each of you should choose one of them, and then you should each enter them. That done, you'll then need to press the button that matches the number on the particular booth you each chose to enter, once you've closed the doors of the booth that you're each in here, in order to do what you have to do, it seems. And you'll then have to see what happens, of course."

Two minutes or so later, then, Scarlett, Gawain, and Sylvester were standing near three of the booths that Thomas had just told them about. At his direction, each of them chose a booth, and they each did so one at a time. Scarlett took Booth 1, Gawain Booth 2, and Sylvester Booth 3, for that matter.

When they were each in one of the three chosen booths, certain information about them suddenly began appearing on Thomas's main computer screen. That information was basic biology-related information about each of them. If nothing else at all about any or all of them, as well.

He soon directed them to press the applicable buttons for each of them here. One at a time, then, they each did so. First, Scarlett did so, and then the other two did so, in turn, when the need arose for them to do so here. When they did so, they were each eventually scanned by some sort of unknown device in their respective booths. And they all felt themselves changing at least a little bit, if not a lot, even as they were still being scanned in them, for that matter.

* * *

Two minutes or so later, at most, then, they all suddenly materialized in a place they were not yet familiar with in any of their lives. They soon found themselves near a river of some sort when they had fully materialized just about five or so feet above the ground just before dropping down to it safely enough. They landed on the ground about two seconds after materializing above it. Scarlett landed on it the softest, when they did so, in fact. Sylvester landed on it half as softly, and Gawain about a third as softly, as Scarlett did.

When they did that, and they got their current bearings here, well enough, after mutually having considered their present situation, they soon looked themselves all over, of course. And each of them was dressed at least a bit differently than they had been before they and Thomas had all found the computer, by the way. If not quite a bit differently.

Scarlett was now wearing a fighting uniform that looked like some sort of fusion between a ninja outfit and a gymnastics leotard, and this uniform was mostly maroon and silver in color. In two pockets of it, there were several throwing stars and many playing cards. On each of her arms, there were several bracelets, with many of them being mostly metallic in nature. And attached to her belt, in several sheaths of some sort, there were several knives as well.

Sylvester, for his own part, now had a simple recurved bow in his left hand and many arrows in a rather full quiver hanging on his back. He also had an often-expandable wooden staff, an axe, and at least one rope of considerable length hanging from his belt. He now was mostly in a similar outfit to the one that he'd been wearing prior to his stepping into a booth of some sort, in fact. And it was a mostly green and gold outfit, by the way, of course.

Gawain was now in a fighting uniform that was some sort of fusion between what a musician might wear and what a sailor might wear, and it was mostly purple and orange in color. In his hands, he currently held a pipe and a microphone. On his back were two crossed canoe paddles. And he still had his gloves on from before, for that matter. He now wore a swimming mask perched on top of his head, and he would often have reason to use that mask in the future, most likely. On his feet, he now wore boots much, though not entirely, like the ones that Sylvester was now wearing. Those boots completed his present look to him, in fact.

The three of them looked themselves over briefly, before Gawain heard from some distance away the voice that he'd heard before again. He immediately began running toward it, and the others obviously followed him here. Two seconds before he was about to dive into the nearby river, his mask came down over his eyes automatically. The other two were stopped before they could do the same, by some sort of energy field, that extended for about five feet away from the nearest part of the river on their side of it.

Gawain dove into the river, and soon found a young girl trapped in some sort of cage, just as Sylvester had earlier thought someone might be trapped in one. He soon began playing a tune that suddenly came into his head, and the cage opened seconds after he began doing so. He caught the girl as she was ejected from that cage, and placed her on his back, after temporarily putting his paddles under his belt. That done, he put his pipe and microphone on his belt as well, before beginning to use the aforementioned paddles to get back to the water's surface. As he used them, several aquatic beings of some yet-unfamiliar sort began to head toward him and his current companion. When they began to get too close to him and the girl he was then carrying, he was forced to try to fend them off with his paddles. He was able to make the surface easily enough, though, without losing his current companion in the process. After he was able to do that sufficiently well, then, the beings were forced to abandon their pursuit of him and that companion. For they were generally unable to breathe well enough out of water, in fact. The girl he had just rescued from the cage was now in a mostly pink, copper, and tan outfit, by the way.

Once the girl was placed on the nearby bank for the river well enough, Sylvester and Scarlett began to check her out. The girl was rather weak, but she was still at least somewhat alive. She had been held for some considerable length of time in some sort of air pocket. But that air pocket had begun to dissipate, and she had also not been given food or water for some time, while in that cage. It took her a little while to adjust to her changed circumstances here, for the obvious reasons, of course.

By the time that she had done so well enough, then, Gawain and the others with him found themselves battling some strange beings that had showed up rather suddenly after she'd been brought to the river's bank that she was then on. Most of them were land-based, while several were air-based, in their respective natures.

When she saw them all fighting those beings, she suddenly said, "Let's get out of here, everyone. Follow me!" She then rose from the ground, up to a standing position, and quite quickly began running towards a good-sized mound somewhere off in the distance. Not wanting to lose her, if they could all possibly avoid it, of course, they all followed her as she did so. On the way there, she then began shooting several multi-colored bursts of fire from her fingers at several of the beings that were now trying to take them down. Those bursts of fire represented her current capability for at least some spiritual attacks in this area of her virtual realm, in fact.

Fifteen minutes or so later, more or less, the four warriors were then near that very same mound. The yet-unnamed girl then had her current companions stand guard as she actually went into the mound for a little while. The three others then with her didn't yet understand why she wanted them to do that here, but they all would come to understand why she'd wanted them to do that here in due time. They all agreed to do so, though, without any debate at all here. After they all did so, she then went the rest of the way towards the mound, and touched it with an outstretched hand. She phased almost immediately through its visible surface, and she soon found herself in a hall of some sort. She went down that hall as quickly as she then could until she actually found herself in a small room with only a simple screen and touchpad visible here. She touched the touchpad with her right hand. When she did, the words Code Israel: Genesis appeared at the top of the screen, and the name Tiffany appeared in the center of it. Five seconds later, at most, then, a pillar of light suddenly appeared in the room around her, the touchpad, and the screen. This pillar of light soon expanded to encompass not only the room that she was now in here, but also the hallway, the rest of the mound, and the immediate area of the mound now in question here. That very same pillar also shrouded the four warriors, and sent them all to other places entirely. It sent the girl Tiffany to an alcove of some yet-unknown sort near the room where the touchpad and the screen was, and it sent the other three warriors back to the booths that they'd each originally entered some time before.

* * *

When Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain each emerged from the booths they'd earlier entered, it was now just about 5:10 pm local time. Scarlett was the first of them to speak, once they all realized they were actually back in the Booth Room, somehow, quite well enough. She soon said, "That was rather unexpected. I wonder who that girl was that we all helped, Gawain."

"As do I, and I'm sure that Sylvester does too. Right, Sylvester?" asked Gawain.

"That is so, Gawain and Scarlett." Sylvester was often a boy of few words, if and whenever possible, in his life. He was the only child of his parents, by the way. And he was the kind of boy that often took a great deal of time to feel close enough to someone in his life. He had very few friends because he wasn't the kind of boy who liked being around a lot of people if he didn't have to be.

"Perhaps Thomas can tell us who she is, boys," said Scarlett, as they began to leave the Booth Room for the elevator that would take them back up to where Thomas still was in the building complex. The three of them moved to the other elevator that was present around them now, in fact.

A few minutes later, at most, then, all three of them were with Thomas again in the Computer Room. He soon told them, "The girl you rescued has a name of Tiffany. She resides now in a virtual realm called 'Israel,' it seems. She is quite closely tied to it at the present time, so she can't actually leave it well enough now, and still exist in a physical enough sense, if what I've learned about her so far is accurate enough. Mind you, I only know just a little bit about her right now. I most certainly will see what I can possibly learn about her and her realm, if and whenever I can, though. The mound that you all saw her enter are her main bases in various areas of that virtual realm, kids. Several mounds like the one that you brought her to are actually linked together somehow. Though I don't know just how yet, for the obvious reasons. The area of her realm that you were in just now seems to be called 'Babylon,' if I remember things well enough here."

"What happened to send us back here, then?" asked Scarlett.

"You were sent back to this world by a pillar of light that appeared first inside the mound you brought her to, and you were brought back here at the exact same time that you all left that virtual realm, Scarlett," answered Thomas, after looking at his main screen for at least a few seconds here.

"So will we see more of her virtual realm?" asked Sylvester.

"Do you wish to, Sylvester?" asked Thomas.

"Very much, I think. I haven't had this much challenge in ages! My real life is rather dull, you might say, in fact, Thomas," said Sylvester, with the first smile that they had all seen from him so far in their still-short knowledge and experience with him. It wasn't a very big smile, in fact, but it was still a smile, just the same.

"Then perhaps you might just get that wish. It seems that you have just been chosen as a Israelite Warrior to fight alongside Tiffany, Gawain, and Scarlett, at least."

"I have been chosen as one, Thomas?" asked Scarlett. "I wasn't planning to come to a virtual realm quite often in the future. I was hoping to instead be able to train as a gymnast or a ninja quite often in it, for your information."

"You have been chosen as one. As have Gawain and Sylvester," said Thomas.

"And what about you? What is your part going to be, as far as you know, in this group of ours?" asked Scarlett, not very happy about being chosen as one, for that matter.

"For now, at least, it seems that I will be the group's data-keeper. I may eventually find myself in the virtual realm as well, but not for right now, I think. I don't even know if it'll be possible for me to ever go to it somehow, in fact, Scarlett. Someone needs to be here to make sure that everyone else can go there, if and whenever needed, you know. And that someone appears to be me. At least for now, anyway."

The quartet eventually left the building complex, and returned to their respective residences in the local area. They all left it by 6 pm local time, and they were all in their respective residences again by 7 pm local time. Before they left each other, though, Thomas suddenly handed each of them a small communicator that looked much, though not entirely, like a rather simple calculator. He'd rather unexpectedly found them all somewhere near the main computer while they'd all been in Tiffany's virtual realm, by the way. He showed them all how to use it, of course, before they all then parted from each other for the rest of the current evening and/or night.

Thomas came back to his family's residence on foot, and had eaten supper with his family as needed, by 8:30 pm, local time. By 9, he was studying, and by 11, he had taken a quick shower, just before retiring to his bed for the rest of the night. He fell asleep by 11:45, after reading in his bed for a while. And when he did, he was quite soundly asleep in it not too much later, in fact.

* * *

The next chapter of this particular story will be up soon enough here, if at all possible. If you have any good enough ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, as long as they are male-female in nature, I'm quite willing to hear them, in fact. I really hope that you all might come to enjoy this story and its related series quite a bit, of course. Please read and review quite constructively, if at all possible, quite often, if and whenever you might so choose, people. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!" 


	2. Chapter Two:  Virtual War!

All of the characters and the other story elements that are present in this story are entirely mine here, and are used fictitiously, unless otherwise stated. I really do hope that you'll all actually enjoy this story's second chapter here, of course.

And before any of you actually ask here, nobody who's actually from Jeremy's group will be in this particular story just yet. That is all. Now on with the story!

* * *

Chapter Two: The Virtual War Has Only Just Begun

The following morning, when Thomas woke up, got dressed, and headed downstairs to have his breakfast, his father surprised him quite considerably by giving him two things. Thomas was now in a red shirt, medium blue jacket, black jeans, and his mostly white tennis shoes, when his father did that. The two things that his father gave him were a Bible and a laptop.

"Why are you giving me these things, Father?" asked Thomas, after he had poured himself a bowl of raisin bran with the necessary milk on top of it.

"Because I felt you really needed them both. And also, Angela suggested that I give you these things after she came home from school yesterday. While you were still not home, then, I went to one of the nearby malls and bought them for you after Angela had suggested that I do so. May you find both of them quite useful in the future, Thomas."

"God willing, I hope that they will be, then, Father," said Thomas.

Thomas soon finished his breakfast, and gathered up all the things that he'd actually have to bring with him to school that day. Before too much more time passed for him, then, he and the rest of his siblings were off to their appropriate schools in the area, of course.

The school day was rather uneventful, except for a little while during lunch, as Thomas had it with Scarlett, Gawain, and Sylvester. While he was doing that, he suddenly experienced a vision of potential trouble in the near future. His eyes suddenly closed as he began experiencing that vision, and all movement stopped for him while he did, in fact.

The others watched him briefly, and then saw a blinking light from the inside of his mostly navy blue backpack. That light was coming from his new laptop, by the way. Scarlett moved to his backpack and took out his new laptop, opening it a few seconds later, while placing it where nobody else could see it well enough on their table. When she did, she soon saw the words, "Vision In Progress, Please Do Not Disturb The Data-Keeper," on its screen.

All of a sudden, Thomas reached out, somewhat unconsciously, even while his eyes were still closed, and began typing on the laptop. The following words soon popped up in a window on the screen: "Prepare To Battle. The Virtual War Has Only Just Begun! Battle at 5 pm Eastern or 4 pm Central. And it's only on the Genesis Channel, for that matter!" Then his fingers moved to the nearby mouse, and brought the mouse pointer to another window on the screen. He clicked on that window, and the following words soon appeared, though not due to his own typing here: "To the Israelite Warriors: Prepare to meet your doom, by order of King Lucifer, at the hands of the Hadeans. We will love to defeat you in many battles to come in the future. And capture you for permanent stays in Hades, if and whenever possible, for that matter, in fact!"

Thomas typed, "Not likely, Demons! By the Power of the Blood, Victory is already ours!"

"We shall soon see, young Thomas, no doubt. We'll see just how powerful your King's Blood actually is, and if it can withstand the mighty power of our King Lucifer!" came a reply, mere seconds later.

"That we shall, Demons of Hades! That we shall! If you want a war, then we shall have a war, and you will most certainly lose, I'm quite sure!"

There were no further responses at this time from Thomas's computer opponents, so Tom soon closed that window and began to close others then on the screen as well. Ten seconds after the last of the necessary windows was closed, then, Tom's eyes suddenly opened, and he said, "It shall be a long drawn-out war, you three, and it'll not be an easy one to win, I'm quite sure. The Demons will most certainly do whatever they can to cause trouble for us and many others in the future, as we're waging it. It will be up to us to help Tiffany as much as we possibly can, at least in terms of defending her virtual realm. You will be heading to an area of it called 'Egypt,' if I remember things well enough here. Though I could be wrong about that, of course. Be at the same building we were at yesterday by 3:45, if at all possible, kids."

Sylvester asked, "What do you know of this part for her realm?"

"Nothing except the name of that area, I believe. Sorry, Sylvester," said Thomas, in between a bite of a cheese sandwich and a sip of some milk.

"I see. Well, then I suppose we must be there by the necessary time, of course," said Sylvester.

"Of course. Scarlett, do you have any plans for this afternoon after school?"

"Yes, I was planning to go out with Lucas Barnard to a movie." Lucas Barnard was a boy that Scarlett was at least a little interested in at the current time in her life. He was just about a year older than their new group's members generally were, more or less.

"Lucas will have to wait, it seems, Scarlett. I wish it weren't the case, but it looks like it will be," said Thomas, a few seconds later.

"He won't be happy, I can tell you that right now, Tom," said Scarlett.

"Well, Tiffany will be in considerable danger later, I'm quite sure. So she'll need your help, it seems, to get to another mound. There will be an activated mound in the 'Egypt' area of her realm later, from what my vision seems to have just told me here, Scarlett."

Gawain said, not more than about a minute or two later, then, "Count me in, then. Anything for the wonderful Tiffany, Thomas."

"Scarlett, will you be there?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, I suppose so. I really don't like this, Tom."

"Nor do I, to tell you the truth. But it looks like we've all been drafted to help Tiffany out as much as we possibly can in the future, as she defends her virtual realm to the best of her ability to do so right now," said Thomas, as he and the rest of his current companions then finished the rest of their food and drink items, for all the obvious reasons here. No more than a few moments, later, then, all four of them left the school cafeteria to do whatever else they then wanted or needed to do anywhere in the school's main building.

Promptly at 3:45 pm, then, and no later, all four of them were in the Computer Room. After Thomas checked at least a few things on the main computer, he soon sent Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain to the Booth Room, so that they could access Tiffany's virtual realm again. When they were ready to do that, he had them step into their booths, and sent them all there, in very short order.

As he did, their 3-D faces popped up on three different cards of a sort along one edge of his main computer's screen, before they flipped briefly to their backs. On the back of the card for Scarlett, there were three throwing stars in a triangular formation pointing up. On the back of the card for Sylvester, there was a single axe. And on the card for Gawain, there were two crossed canoe paddles. Then all three cards turned back over to reveal their owners' faces, in fact.

* * *

The three Warriors went almost immediately in search of Tiffany, and ten minutes after they materialized in what appeared to essentially be a desert-like area, they were already battling various beings. These beings were mostly wolf-like or snake-like beings, with a few vulture-like ones thrown in every so often. As they battled those beings, Thomas was then searching for the activated mound and for Tiffany. He found the mound first, and then Tiffany. He had the group begin trying to fight towards that mound, even as he was still searching for Tiffany in her virtual realm. So the group did so. 

It took them about an hour, more or less, to get reasonably close to that mound. When they finally had done so after having taken out several dozen beings of assorted kinds between them all, Tiffany suddenly appeared quite near them. It had taken her some time to find them from her main mound, for Demons had confused her with assorted illusions, among other things, as she tried to access the nearest mound to the other warriors sent to help her out. It took her several tries, in fact, to find them, and to access the proper mound to get near them all well enough.

She soon afterward earnestly joined the fight here. And she took out several others with some spiritual attacks of her own. Eventually, those attacks forced the Hadean Demons back from the Israelite Warriors for at least a little while, if not for a great while. As soon as she then could, she introduced herself as Tiffany. Tiffany Novala Tecloma, in fact. And she learned her fellow Warriors' names as well.

When she did, she soon said, "It's a pleasure to meet you all, in fact. I hope that I can eventually come to your world someday in the future. And do so at least once, for that matter. In the meantime, though, I'm not able to cross over to your world in my life, somehow."

The four Warriors began running on the sand around them in the 'Egypt' area of Tiffany's virtual realm, with Tiffany often in the lead as they did so. Eventually, they came to the general area of the mound that had been activated by a Hadean Demon of some sort. And when they did, several more Demons appeared to try to keep them from accessing it, of course. Among them were several more Wolves and Snakes, by the way.

The resumed battle was a tough one for the Warriors to win, at least until Tiffany suddenly shouted, "Divine Blood Soul Redemption!" When Tiffany did so, all the Demons who were currently within range of her melodic, yet determined, voice were almost instantly stricken with great fear and great fright here. They began to howl like banshees at an almost deafening volume, as they also tried to dodge more spiritual attacks from Tiffany here, for all the obvious reasons. And they all, for that matter, looked for any or all possible escape routes from the now-hated place where they'd most recently encountered Tiffany and all three of her current companions, by the way. But their current attempts at escape here were all soon squashed, and they were all eliminated as needed or desired by the Israelite Warriors, as well. Quite easily indeed, by the way.

Once they all were, Tiffany had a quite clear path to the necessary mound in "Egypt." She then accessed the mound, but the others still couldn't come with her when she did so. So the rest of them stayed quite near it, but not on it, in fact. Two minutes or so later, at most, Tiffany accessed another touchpad, and the same words as before appeared on the screen near that touchpad. As before, another pillar of light soon appeared, with the exact same effects on the Warriors as the first one had left on them all after Tiffany had accessed the first mound she'd gone to in the "Babylon" area of her virtual realm.

* * *

When Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain all emerged from their booths again, it was nearly 6 pm, local time. Sylvester was the first to speak. He said, "This Tiffany seems to be quite interesting. It should be a real challenge to fight alongside her against assorted Demons." 

"I think I like her already, Sylvester," said Gawain. "She seems like my kind of girl." Gawain winked at Sylvester, quite secretly, for he didn't want Scarlett to see him do so.

"I hope she can find a way to make it so that we don't have to fight in her realm in the future, somehow," said Scarlett, after they finally were back in the Computer Room with Thomas.

"Don't count on it, Scarlett. At least not for some time, anyway. It seems that her existence is tied to her virtual realm at the present time for some yet-unknown reason. Even if she might want not to be tied to it, she still is. And until that changes, then it seems it will be necessary for at least a few of us to fight in that realm every so often, even if we might not actually want to." Thomas typed up at least a few more things on the main computer as he then said those things to her here.

"This really isn't fair to me, I think. I mean, forcing me to fight in this realm, that is," said Scarlett.

"Well, don't you think it's not necessarily fair to Tiffany for her to be forced to spend all her time in her virtual realm? I happen to suspect that she'd actually like to eventually be able to get away from it every so often in her own existence, if and whenever she possibly could do that in it, Scarlett," said Thomas. "I realize I don't really know that much about her so far, of course. But I honestly do think I certainly would feel just that way if I were somehow being forced to spend all my time in a virtual realm for whatever reason or reasons that she might now be forced to do just that here."

"True enough, I suppose, Thomas," admitted Scarlett, finally, after at least a few minutes of relative silence from her here.

"Well, I don't think any of us are going to have to go back there again for at least the rest of the current evening or night, in any case. So I suggest that we all get out of here just as soon as we all can here, and then make tracks for our respective residences in the local area. If any more trouble happens, I have a feeling that I'll be the first to know, somehow. Get some rest, and hopefully you three won't have to fight in that realm again for at least a little while from now," said Thomas.

"You don't have to tell me twice, I suppose, Thomas," said Scarlett.

"Then I'll see you all tomorrow, God willing, of course," said Thomas.

Sylvester said, "I wish I could spend more of my time there, everyone."

"As do I," said Gawain.

"We'll all see what the future holds, kids. But until later, I suggest that you all get some more rest for at least a little while, if at all possible. I don't think Tiffany will need you again for at least a little while longer, in any case," said Thomas.

"Very well, Thomas. May we all have a good rest of the night, and may we all be quite refreshed when we come to school again in the morning, of course," said Sylvester, a few seconds later.

As soon as Thomas finished typing up a few more things on the main computer, he then stood up and got out of his chair. The others soon followed him, rather unexpectedly, after he left the Computer Room. And he then brought them to the Production Room, which would be where they might design and build assorted equipment for their future use later on, if and whenever possible. He had learned about its existence while they had still been trying to find Tiffany, in fact. And he had done a little bit of investigation about it before the other three teens with him had returned from "Israel," as well.

After about another five or ten minutes of still-unplanned companionship with them there, he let them all leave him for the rest of the evening or night. And not one of them stayed more than five additional minutes after he did just that for them. Not even Gawain, who might eventually prove to have the most mechanical expertise and skill for the group, if at all possible, stayed longer than five more minutes, for that matter.

When they began parting from each other for the rest of the night, it was then about 6:45 pm local time, more or less. Thomas was the very last of them to leave the building complex. And even as he did so, he suddenly found himself tripping over a boys'-style bike of some unknown sort near its main entrance. It was, quite surprisingly, mostly cardinal red and navy blue in color, with a few other colors present for it wherever necessary. He took the bike home with him when he left the complex behind, of course.

He was home at his family's residence by 7:15, after riding for nearly half an hour, in fact. And he soon hid it in a small shed near the house, for that matter. He hid it quite well, behind several boxes of books that his father had just unloaded into that shed earlier that day, while Thomas and his new associates were otherwise occupied elsewhere in the local area.

After he hid his new bike quite well, he slipped into the house with as little noise as possible, and up to his room. Silas was then taking a brief nap elsewhere in their shared bedroom. So Thomas changed his clothes as quietly as he could from the ones that he'd worn to school and to the building complex into considerably more casual ones. By the time that Silas finally began to stir in their shared bedroom, Tom was wearing a light mostly blue T-shirt, an older pair of stonewashed blue jeans, and a pair of tan moccasins with beaded edges wherever appropriate for them. The T-shirt bore the words, "Castles and Crowns Chess Camp, Summer 2007," in a circle around six chess pieces of alternating colors. The White pieces were the King, Rook, and Knight, while the Black pieces were the Queen, Bishop, and Pawn. Several lines between each piece actually formed a six-pointed star, with the King at the top-most point and the Queen at the bottom-most point of it. The Rook was above the Pawn on his left, while on his right, the Knight was above the Bishop.

Thomas had attended that summer camp for three years in a row, and he had won the camp's Summer 2007 Championship trophy after beginning the final match with a Scotch Game opening. He had taken third at the camp in 2006, and fifteenth at it in 2005. Chess was his favorite board game to play, followed somewhat closely by checkers, in his life. However, it wasn't his primary interest in it, by the way.

His current primary interest in his life, at least in terms of what he most often preferred to do with his often-limited free time, was to quite often read assorted reading materials, if and whenever possible. Writing and computers were both significant enough interests of his, as well. But neither of those kinds of things were as much of an interest to him as reading now was. Or at least not as of the current time in his life, anyway.

At 7:30, then, Thomas and Silas were called for supper. Both soon went downstairs to have it. And after they had it, both of them eventually returned to their room for the rest of the night, just as soon as they could do that well enough. First Silas, and then Thomas.

For Thomas had spent a little time longer in catching up with their father about things that had happened to them during the soon-to-end day, in fact. And they both had also read from the Bible every so often when they'd been catching up with each other during their conversation about the day. Mostly in Genesis, by the way, whenever they were both reading from it then.

By 8:30, Thomas was back in his and Silas's bedroom. Silas was just about to retire to his bed, but Thomas caught him just barely before he did. Thomas asked, "What's on your mind? Are you upset about something, by any chance at all, Silas?"

"No, I'm not. But I am curious about something. Have you ever been quite interested in a girl before?"

"Not really. Why do you ask?" asked Thomas, as he opened a math textbook then on his own desk in their shared bedroom.

"There is this girl who I think I might want to get to know at least a little bit better. She seems to be new to our town. And I have this rather strange feeling, somehow, that I might want to eventually spend a great deal of time with her in the future, if and whenever possible, Tom."

"I see. And has she shown any indication of perhaps wanting to get to know you at least a little bit better yet?"

"No, I can't say that she has. At least not yet, anyway."

"Well, perhaps you should play things by ear, and see how they might work out for the two of you. Do you even know her name yet?"

"No, I can't say that either, it seems."

"Well, then, Silas, you'll just have to wait and see what happens. Perhaps you might eventually learn her name later on this year. Until then, you should try to be patient, I suppose."

"I have never been one with much patience, you know, Tom."

"Maybe not. But patience is evidently considered a virtue, just the same, Silas."

"Very well, I will try to be patient, at least in that regard, if not any others as well. Good night." Silas then retired to his bed, and was quite soundly asleep no more than about five or ten minutes after doing just that in their shared bedroom. Tom turned off the necessary light or lights on that side of the bedroom, before turning back to his studies for some time.

As Silas slept rather quietly and rather soundly, Tom studied and worked on his homework until it was just about 10 at night. After which, he then used his desktop computer for at least a little while as he needed or desired to use it. He stayed up until about 11:15 or so, at least in terms of still being on the computer well enough. By 11:30, he was also in his own bed, and quickly beginning to drift right off to sleep. As had actually happened many times before in his own life, he himself was quite soundly asleep in his own bed as well by 11:45 pm, in fact.

* * *

Early Saturday morning, Thomas was unexpectedly drawn unconsciously to the building complex, instead of to the local library, contrary to his usual routine for Saturdays in his life. He had his breakfast much earlier than he normally had it on Saturdays, and slipped out completely out of the immediate area of his family's residence by 6:30 in the morning. He had normally only arisen from his bed on Saturday mornings after 9 am local time. But he had done so about three hours earlier than normal. When he slipped out of his family's house by 6:30, he first left brief notes on the dining room table and the girls' bedroom door, for the obvious reasons. Then he retrieved his bike from where he'd hidden it twice before, in fact, and headed right for the building complex. He arrived there by 7 in the morning, at the very latest, for that matter. 

By 7:15, he was already working on the main computer in the Computer Room. He typed for a while on it, and wasn't expecting to be disturbed as he did so. Suddenly, however, a short series of beeps got his attention. Those beeps were from Tiffany, who had unexpectedly been woken up by some earthquake-like tremors in the "Egypt" area of her realm. He heard those beeps, and then clicked on a window that had just popped up on his screen. He saw her 3-D face for the first time, when he did, and a card soon flipped over briefly in that same window, in order to reveal a card back that now bore a flaming torch on it.

Tiffany was a girl who appeared to be about Thomas's age, more or less. She was then wearing her fighting uniform under a mostly tan and copper-colored bathrobe, which she'd quickly thrown on after being suddenly woken up by the aforementioned tremors. Her hair was black, and it fell roughly to the middle of her back, more or less. It was now being worn completely unbound, as was normally the case for her in her life of a sort, by the way.

Tiffany now appeared to be about four inches taller and about ten pounds heavier, more or less, than Scarlett now was. She had a somewhat slender, yet strong, look to herself, with a moderately small scar on her left cheek, due to a much-unexpected accident when she was much younger than she now was. That particular scar had resulted from a rather unexpected fall during a camping trip with her parents while they were all hiking together in Japan. Several stitches later, the injury had been taken care of quite well, but a scar still remained as evidence of that fall, just the same. The evidence had faded from view over time, but never totally. And it never would, most likely.

Thomas and Tiffany conversed for a while with each other as needed or desired, but still without Tiffany being able to see Thomas's face, for the obvious reasons. They got to know each other a little bit better, by the way. Or at least until more, and stronger, tremors began to make themselves known in the "Egypt" part of her realm, anyway.

Tiffany briefly left her current screen in Israel, and peeked outside the mound that she'd come to most recently. She saw no Demon-caused activity of any kind in the immediate area of her current mound, when she did so. So she came back into it, and turned back to her current screen in Israel. She soon began searching for where the epicenter of those tremors might be in Israel's Egypt area, and eventually learned that they were near a rather distant mound elsewhere in that part of Israel.

Thomas asked, "Do you have any ideas that might work well enough for us all in the future here, if I might ask you this here, Tiffany?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. I am sending you some data on vehicles you might find useful for the other Warriors in various parts of my realm. Send the information to your Production Room's computer network, just as soon as you can. Robots in that part of your building complex will need to build prototypes of these vehicles to try out in your world, it seems, so that the other Warriors can train with them whenever they're not here with me in my realm. However, they won't be transferable to my realm at this time, if ever, Thomas. Copies of them are in existence, as far as I can gather, elsewhere in my realm. But just where they all are in it, I'm not quite sure yet. Though I hope to eventually find out, if and whenever I can, of course.

"How soon do you want me to summon the other Warriors, Tiffany?"

"Now, if you possibly can, Thomas."

"Scarlett won't like this one bit."

"That's a chance we'll just have to take. It seems at least a few dozen Wolves, Snakes, and Panthers are now beginning to head this way. And I won't necessarily be able to stay in here for a long time, if they actually decide to try attacking this mound for at least a while, if not a good while."

"As you wish, Tiffany. I will summon them all just as quickly as I can, then."

"Thank you. I can maintain the shields over this mound for about another fifteen minutes or so, maybe, but not much longer than that, before I might have to leave it to battle the Demons here."

"Understood." Thomas then began paging the other Warriors through the calculator-appearing communicators that he'd given them a while before. As expected, Scarlett was quite unhappy about him doing so, for the obvious reasons. But she still agreed to come and try to help out, just the same. Sylvester and Gawain, however, came with no argument or delay of any kind whatsoever about whether they should come or not to the building complex.

Scarlett arrived first at the building complex, her anger at being woken up during her usual Saturday sleeping-in causing her adrenaline to make her go there quite a bit faster than normal on foot. When she got to the Computer Room, she asked, "Did you really have to get me up so early on Saturday morning, Thomas?"

It was now just about 8:30 in the morning, local time. Thomas said, after taking a few deep breaths, so as to hopefully say so calmly enough here, "Yes, unfortunately so, Scarlett. Tiffany has detected the presence of another activated mound, and she is now trapped inside the mound that you escorted her to most recently, by at least several dozen Wolves, Snakes, and Panthers, from what she told me a little while ago."

"Sylvester and Gawain?"

"On the way here, but they don't live quite as close to here as you seem to. You are probably about half a mile away from here, if I read this area's residential map well enough, Scarlett. The others are about twice that, at least, away from here, in terms of their respective family residences, it seems. So it's probably often going to be harder for them to get here as fast as you can in the future, if we're not actually coming here from the same place or places in the local area."

"I see. Can you tell me what to expect, when I get there?"

"A lot of Demons." Thomas briefed her as quickly as he could about the current situation for Tiffany and for Israel, and was just finishing up doing so as Sylvester and Gawain arrived in the Computer Room as well. Scarlett then took charge here, at least over Sylvester and Gawain, in terms of telling them to get to the necessary elevator that'd take them to the Booth Room. She was fully intent on getting all the necessary things done by them and her as quickly and as safely as possible, so that she could go back to bed at her place, for the obvious reasons.

Sylvester and Gawain hurried to the necessary elevator, entering it just after she did. A few seconds later, at most, then, the three of them were on the way down to the Booth Room. All of them accessed the booths that they'd each accessed before, and prepared to fight Demons, of course.

No more than a few minutes later, then, they all materialized quite near where they'd been when they'd all last seen Tiffany, and they engaged the Demons near that mound. It took them at least a few minutes for them to force those Demons back far enough to make it possible for Tiffany to exit that mound and join the battle as well. But eventually, just before the shields around it would have failed completely, they were able to do that. That done, Tiffany soon joined them all outside that mound.

The four Warriors then all began fighting their ways towards the activated mound elsewhere in the "Egypt" part of Tiffany's virtual realm. Of course, they each took hits periodically, due to the considerable numbers of assorted beings that they were then battling. It took them about three or four hours, due to rather strong opposition from numerous Demons, to even get within about two miles of the activated mound. But eventually, they all somehow managed to do that without being killed or dematerialized because of battle injuries or damage to them or to their equipment of whatever kind or kinds. It then took them all another forty minutes or so in order to fight their ways to just outside the activated mound. And Tiffany was finally able to access that mound, and shut it down as needed, for that matter, not too long afterward.

When she did, Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain were all eventually sent back to the real world, and Tiffany to another alcove of some yet-unknown sort, exactly as they'd earlier been sent to such places from Tiffany's virtual realm, in fact. As before, Tiffany had still wished to be able to go with her three companions to the real world, even though she knew that just wasn't possible yet, if it ever would be somehow.

* * *

The three Warriors who were not tied exactly as Tiffany was to her virtual realm emerged from their respective booths just before 1 pm local time. After they did, Scarlett soon led them out of the Booth Room into the necessary elevator. A few minutes later, then, they were all in the Computer Room. However, Thomas was not there, rather unexpectedly for them all. He had left a note on top of the main computer's keyboard on a small sheet of paper. The note said, "Gone to the Production Room. Am now attending to new equipment design and construction." 

Scarlett was the first to see the note, and when she did, she said, "This had better be good."

"Relax, Scarlett. If he is not here at the main computer, then there must be a fairly good reason why he is not," said Sylvester, trying to calm her down considerably by doing a little dance in front of her.

"There had better be. I really don't like having to come here in the first place, you know, boys."

Gawain said, "Perhaps the Data-Keeper has new information and stuff for us to use."

"The Data-Keeper, Gawain?" asked Scarlett.

"Yes, it seems that Tom is the Data-Keeper, by his own self-titling, Scarlett," answered Gawain.

So the three of them went to the Production Room. When they got there, Thomas was looking over a few things that he'd told the robots there to start working on. One of them was already completely built, according to the specifications that Tiffany had earlier given Thomas before he'd summoned the rest of the Warriors to the building complex through their communicators.

This thing that'd been completed first was a prototype racing vehicle of the open-wheel variety, reduced in size as needed, considering the person who would most often be using it. That vehicle was mostly green and gold, and it had the number 3 on its nose. It looked slightly futuristic, in its basic nature and design, and several slots were closed at the present time on its chassis.

Scarlett asked, "Who gets this vehicle, Thomas?"

"This prototypical one belongs to Sylvester," said Thomas. "The two other prototypes are still to be built. They both are still in the design process, it seems. Even yours. Do you want to see what we have so far for your own prototype?"

"Might as well. You're not going to let me go home again for a while, right?"

"I suppose you could leave, of course. But if you do, your prototype might not look and be just like you might want or need it to be, Scarlett," said Thomas.

"Fine, I'll stick around for a while, I guess. Let's see what you have come up with so far."

Thomas soon brought the three of them to where another computer was in the Production room, and he accessed the keyboard there briefly. A holographic representation of Scarlett's prototype as it now stood appeared almost instantly on a nearby assembly line, at its very head. A mostly maroon and silver train locomotive appeared there, in fact. It was also slightly futuristic, yet slightly traditional, in its current appearance. The basic lines of it looked more futuristic than traditional, but the outside of the locomotive appeared to be more traditional than futuristic, at least in terms of its decoration. Assorted weapons systems were aboard the locomotive, whether for offensive purposes, defensive purposes, or purposes anywhere in between. After Scarlett looked over the holographic version of her prototypical vehicle for a while, she said, "Thomas, it's going to be kind of hard for me to go around the area in a locomotive, you know."

"True enough. Tiffany and I, after considerable discussion, decided to make it possible for you to hide the presence of that locomotive around town by making it appear like you are on roller skates whenever you're using it to get around the area. And, in order to hopefully be able to help you out with that sort of thing, we have both decided that you should wear a pair of earrings if and whenever possible. We have designed a pair of earrings that look like throwing stars, in fact. All we need to know is whether or not you would prefer them to be of the pierced-ear or clip-on varieties, before we can construct them."

Scarlett thought for a few moments in relative silence, before saying, "Make them of the pierced-ear variety. Mother and I are going to be going shopping after school on Monday, if I remember correctly. We are planning to get my ears pierced then, by the way."

"How do you want them to appear, then?"

"Show me what you have come up with so far for them, Thomas."

So Thomas did so, by clicking on another window on the same screen that he'd been looking at periodically near Scarlett's prototypical vehicle. The window soon opened to its maximum available size, and Scarlett saw two different styles of earrings in the chosen style. She studied them both for a little while, and then said, "Preferably the one that has three joined stars hanging from my earlobes on both sides, Thomas, if and whenever possible, please."

"Do you want to have stud-style earrings like the others, as well, just in case you can't wear the others at times, then, Scarlett?" asked Thomas.

"Very well. I suppose I should have them as well, Thomas."

"As you wish, Scarlett. When you eventually do get your ears pierced, and are ready for them all, then you most certainly will receive earrings such as you've just said you wished to have here. But until then, at least, you won't actually be able to wear any of these various earrings, either here or in Tiffany's virtual realm, just so you know."

"Understood, Thomas. How soon will my prototype vehicle be ready for testing?"

"I don't know yet. We still have to decide how to outfit it much more, you know, Scarlett."

"Granted. Is that all you have to say to me right now, then, Thomas?"

"I suppose so, Scarlett."

Then Scarlett smiled a little smile. After she did that, Thomas moved over to another computer and assembly line, as the others followed. He typed up a few things on that computer, and Gawain's prototypical vehicle soon appeared in holographic form as it now stood. It looked now like a mostly purple and orange canoe. But that wouldn't be its only actual form of existence, most likely. This was for all the obvious reasons here, of course. The other form would be some sort of mini-tank, if and whenever it was possible for it to be in that particular form of appearance later on.

Its weapons systems were currently hidden from view, as they normally would be, whether Gawain was in it while it was in its canoe form or its mini-tank form. Thomas and Gawain discussed Gawain's prototypical vehicle with each other for some considerable length of time, before Gawain looked suddenly at a watch then on his left wrist. Gawain then said, "Thomas, we're going to have to continue this discussion about my new prototypical vehicle at least a little bit later, if not a lot later. It seems to me now, come to think of it, that I actually do have a prior commitment to meet someone rather important at a Chinese restaurant elsewhere in town by 3:30 this afternoon. Someone who I have quite often worked with to a rather considerable degree in the past on various musical compositions of my own, in fact."

"Very well, Gawain. You may go, if you need to, then," said Thomas.

"May I as well, Thomas?" asked Scarlett.

"Of course. Again, I'm quite sorry that you had to be summoned here so early in the morning. I didn't even expect to be in this building complex that early, either. But I was drawn here rather unconsciously, it seems, for some yet-unknown reason or reasons. So I can fully understand where you're coming from here, in fact, Scarlett," said Thomas.

Sylvester said, "My parents are not home right now, it seems. The last I saw of them, they were sleeping in their bed after having evidently partied most of yesterday in various places around the local area. And that was last night. When I woke up this morning, not long before you summoned me, they were already gone from our residence, presumably to do even more partying today, based on what I know of them so far in my life."

"What do you mean, Sylvester?" asked Scarlett.

"My parents are what you three might call 'Professional Partiers,' I think, Scarlett. They generally spend most, if not all, of their waking hours partying, it seems. I rarely see them, and they me. I often have to keep up things in their house, which usually means a lot of work for me in it. When I go to school, they are usually away from home again, and when I come back, they usually still are."

"So you generally have to feed and clothe yourself on a typical day?" asked Gawain, just as he began heading away from the other three teens then with him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, that is often true, Gawain. And I generally have to feed our birds, guinea pigs, and cats while they are out and about, as well."

"How do you put up with it, then, Sylvester?" asked Thomas.

"I am the only child of my parents. And we don't have many real friends in our lives. Not even I do," said Sylvester.

"Can't you just run away, Sylvester?" asked Scarlett.

"I suppose I could, but if I did, none of our animals would likely be taken care of as needed, Scarlett. And my parents would just continue to live the way they do, I think, even if I did so. They have been doing this sort of thing for as long as I can currently remember in my life, for that matter."

"I see. Can't we report them to the local authorities, then, for definite parental neglect, Sylvester?"

"Doubtful. They have too many influential friends of a sort around them at the present time. And it probably would make things much worse for me in my life, as well, if we did so. At least as of the current time, anyway, Scarlett."

Eventually, the four teens parted again from each other here, so that they could do what they then needed or wanted to do in their respective lives. Even Thomas eventually left the building complex, but he didn't leave it again until just after 5 in the afternoon, local time. For he wanted to spend some more time trying to get to know Tiffany here, if at all possible, by the way. So he did so, before eventually leaving the entire building complex again.

He briefly went on his bicycle to the neighborhood library, and spent about an hour, more or less, there, before leaving it again. He headed right home after leaving the library. By 6:30, at the very latest, he was back at his family's residence. As he'd done at least once or twice before, he then hid his bike in the same place he'd hidden it before. With that done, he soon slipped into the house and went up to his room without being seen at all. When he got to his room, he gathered up some clothes from his dresser in the room, and prepared to take a shower. As soon as he made sure that he'd not be disturbed for at least a little while, he then began showering, in very short order. He showered for about fifteen or so minutes, and then changed into the clothes he'd just picked out for himself to wear for the rest of the evening and/or night, at least.

Ten or so minutes after he changed into those clothes, he went downstairs and had some supper with the rest of his family. After supper, he went back to his room, and generally stayed there for the rest of the night to the best of his current ability to do so here. Tom retired to his bed eventually, and read for a while as he lay in it on his back. At 11:30, he set the English-Hebrew / Hebrew-English dictionary he was then looking through near him on a bedside table, and turned off his lights anywhere in the room as needed here. Silas's lights were already all off when he did so, for Silas had turned them off when he himself had retired to his own bed at about 8:30 in the evening. As usual, Tom was quite soundly asleep in his own bed by 11:45 pm local time.

* * *

The next chapter of this particular story will be up soon enough here, if at all possible. If you have any good enough ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, as long as they are male-female in nature, I'm quite willing to hear them, in fact. I really hope that you all might come to enjoy this story and its related series quite a bit, of course. Please read and review quite constructively, if at all possible, quite often, if and whenever you might so choose, people. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!" 


	3. Chapter Three:  Grecian Sea

All of the characters and the other story elements that are present in this story are entirely mine here, and are used fictitiously, unless otherwise stated. I really do hope that you'll all actually enjoy this story's third chapter here, of course.

And before any of you actually ask here, nobody who's actually from Jeremy's group will be in this particular story just yet. That is all. Now on with the story!

* * *

Chapter Three: Somewhere In The Grecian Sea

The following Tuesday, after school ended, Thomas went straight to the building complex, and he was there by 3:45 in the afternoon. He used the computers in the complex for a while until Tiffany suddenly popped up on one of their screens. She surprised him, of course, when she did that rather suddenly, at about 4:30 in the afternoon, local time.

"Good to see you again, so to speak, Tiffany. What's on your mind?"

"How are the prototypes coming along, Thomas?"

"Still being prepared for testing, et cetera. Why?"

"Because I just started to get this feeling that another area of my realm is, or soon will be, under attack by the Demons. This area is one we haven't visited together yet. At least not one that I've been in with the other Warriors, anyway. This area, or sector, if you might call it that, is evidently called 'Greece,' from what I can currently gather, Thomas. It is one of at least ten non-central sectors that I have at least some basic knowledge of so far in my existence. The other Warriors and I have been to the Babylon and Egypt sectors together already, but not to this one, by the way."

"What are its known characteristics, then, Tiffany?"

"It is a sea-type sector. So we're going to need to have a ship to get around it well. Fortunately, I found one after our most recent battle with the Demons, as I was exploring in various places of my virtual realm, for something to do. Out of sheer boredom, perhaps, at the time. Or at least I found parts of it scattered every so often around many of them. I spent much of yesterday putting them all together, after collecting them all somewhere in Israel's Central Sector, which is called 'Jerusalem,' for your information, Thomas. It is now of a roughly moderate size, and it is now moderately capable of battle, to at least some degree, though not to a great degree. But it is still not likely to last forever, if it is eventually attacked fiercely enough and/or often enough, I think. This ship that I speak of is now somewhat strong on offense, but is not now so strong, in terms of its currently-present defensive capabilities, generally speaking, if I remember all of the necessary things well enough about it here."

"What is it called, by the way?"

"It is called 'Truth's Sword,' if what I've learned about it is accurate enough. It has room for up to twenty actual Warriors of whatever kind or kinds, but can be maintained by as few as one Warrior, to at least some degree, if and whenever necessary."

Thomas and Tiffany conversed about many things related to her virtual realm and to each other. As they were doing so, Scarlett eventually came into the Computer Room, having been unconsciously drawn there for some yet-unknown reason. It was just about 5 in the late afternoon of Tuesday, September 11, 2007, in fact, when she came there. And she came there alone at that time, for that matter.

As Thomas was asking Tiffany more about the Greece Sector, Tiffany said, "There are supposedly precious jewels in various places at the bottom of the Grecian Sea that often look like stars and bracelets. And they are also suspected of often having certain characteristics that could possibly help their owner or owners quite considerably in my virtual realm. However, they apparently haven't been seen for many years, like on the order of centuries or millennia, perhaps. At least from what I've gathered to date in my life about that part of my realm, Thomas."

Scarlett arrived there just as Tiffany began answering Tom's last question here, by the way. She heard Tiffany's entire answer, and after Tiffany finished saying it, she asked, "Tiffany, what do these jeweled stars and bracelets apparently look like?"

"Good afternoon to you too, Scarlett. Apparently, from what little I know of them, they look at least a little bit, if not a lot, like the stars and bracelets that you've already used before every so often in 'Israel.' I can't be totally sure about that just yet, though, for we haven't all been there together just yet."

"We, meaning you, me, Sylvester, and Gawain?" asked Scarlett, as she was then wearing a maroon blouse and a silver-trimmed maroon knee-length skirt. Hanging from one shoulder, there was a mostly maroon and silver handbag, and it had a woven leather strap between its ends. On either side of the handbag, there were three joined throwing stars arranged in a perfect triangular formation, for that matter, with the formation pointing up as well.

"Yes, for Tom here hasn't yet visited my realm in actual reality, Scarlett. Of course I mean the three of you with me, by the way."

"This is a primarily sea-type area of your realm, Tiffany?"

"Yes, it is. Do you have a problem with that, Scarlett?" asked Tiffany, not knowing yet why Scarlett asked that here.

"Well, let's just say that I don't generally like to be on or in the water if I don't really have to in my life, Tiffany. I would rather keep my feet on dry land if and whenever possible in my life. I wonder if that was part of the reason why I wasn't able to dive into the river where you were earlier being held against your will."

"Maybe it was. But I just don't know right now, if I ever will, Scarlett. Sylvester was also kept from diving in to get me out of the river, was he not?" asked Tiffany, with a rather puzzled look on her virtual face.

"As a matter of fact, yes, he was. Though I don't yet know just why, of course. That is if I ever will, quite naturally enough, Tiffany," Scarlett said.

"Can you swim, by any chance, Scarlett?" asked Thomas.

"No. Or at least not very well, anyway, Data-Keeper." Scarlett thought for a few brief moments in relative silence, before then continuing to speak here, "Sure, if and whenever it's needed, I can shower or bathe in water at times. But I really don't like being on or in water any more than I absolutely have to be in my life, generally speaking. And I really don't know just why that is, if I ever will."

"You have swum in gym class before, when necessary, right, Scarlett?" asked Thomas.

"Of course I have. I haven't generally liked it when I've had to do it, but I've done it, just the same, Thomas. I mean, I really don't want bad grades in school, if I can possibly avoid it at all. Mother often gets really upset when I don't get the best possible grades in my various school classes that I possibly can. Granted, not all of them are A-type grades, but she still really wants me to do the very best that I possibly can in any and all of my various classes, if and whenever possible, nevertheless. Most of my grades are perhaps in the low B-range or high C-range, if I remember things of that nature well enough, you two."

"Okay, Scarlett. What would you really like to be in your own life, if at all possible, once you get out of school?" asked Tiffany.

"Perhaps a gymnastics coach or a ninja-type person, if I can be. But my mother wants me to be a movie actress in Japan later on. And my father wants me to go into law or into politics either in this country or in Japan, for that matter. Many, though not all, of my siblings don't really have definite ideas about what I possibly could be later on in my life yet, if they ever will, I believe, Tiffany."

"Just now many siblings do you now have, if I might ask you this here, by any chance at all, Scarlett?" asked Thomas.

"I am the fifteenth child and seventh daughter of my parents. There are five siblings behind me, and three of them are girls, right now. So far, I have ten brothers and nine sisters, all of which are full siblings to me, by the way. My parents are both now in their late fifties. And they started their family young, after marrying quite young. My four grandparents arranged for both my parents to be married just as soon as they were each old enough, not long after they were each born into our world. Old enough for my parents happened when they were both fourteen years old, more or less, in fact. It was not involuntary on either of my parents' parts, rather strangely enough. They each had been told when they were still seven years old of the proposed arranged marriage between them both. And both of them eventually decided over the next three to five years, more or less, to follow their own parents' plans, at least in that particular part of their lives. Also, they grew up fairly fast mentally, physically, and socially, at least, if not in any other ways as well. By the time they were each twelve and a half, then, they were both dating each other, quite exclusively, by their own willing and mature enough choices of that specific nature. By the time they were each thirteen and a half, they were engaged to each other. And around the time or times that they both turned fourteen, they married each other. A year after that, their children started coming to them."

"Are you serious, Scarlett? Are you sure you're not kidding about such things?"  
"I sure am, on both counts, Thomas. It has been rather common in my family tree for many of us to have many children in our respective lives. I even have several nieces and nephews that actually are older than at least one of my younger siblings, if not more than one of them. And what's more, my parents are expecting at least a few more children, come April, at the very latest."

"And what do you think of having so many siblings?" asked Tiffany.

"It's often quite hectic, to put it very mildly, when many of us are around each other at the same time. Privacy is something that is very rare in our family, due to the fact that many of our family's members have been rather successful in the production of offspring, in the usual manner, normally, Tiffany."

"And is this one reason you might not really want to fight in my realm so much, Scarlett?"

"Perhaps it is. I'm not really sure about that, however. Nothing against you personally, mind you, Tiffany. But I find myself often hard-pressed to have real privacy in my life, and not having to fight, in a manner of speaking, for everything I might get in it. We aren't exactly poor, in fact. But with quite a lot of us often around, for your information, you can probably figure out that it might often be rather tough for me to get everything that I might want or need in my life, for all the obvious reasons."

"Even with many, if not most, of your siblings already married and out of the house, no doubt, Scarlett?" asked Thomas.

"Even though that is obviously true, for many, if not most, of my siblings, Thomas, it still is that way for me quite often in my life. Just so you both know that well enough here."

Thomas and Tiffany considered this for quite some time, in relative silence, as Scarlett reached into her handbag and took out a sketchbook, drawing pencils, and an eraser. She found a place to sit down near Thomas in the Computer Room, and soon began to sketch Thomas as he periodically typed up things on the computer, if and whenever necessary.

Every so often, Thomas would look over at her, as she sketched him and other things near him. But most of the time, he kept his eyes on the screen and his computer keyboard, just the same. Eventually, Scarlett finished a sketch, and started another one. This next one was of Tiffany, based on what Scarlett had already seen of her during the previous battles alongside her in 'Israel,' and Scarlett gave Tiffany a rather curious look in that sketch, by the way.

Eventually, Scarlett asked, "Thomas and Tiffany, how are things hanging, so to speak, in 'Israel'? Have you found any Demons who are most certainly about to cause trouble there yet?"

"Not yet, but there are still signs of some Demon-related activity, just the same, Scarlett," said Tiffany, after a few fairly brief moments of her checking the general area of her current mound in 'Israel.' Tiffany said, "I am hoping that they won't force another battle at all today, but we'll just have to see how things go for us all, of course, Scarlett."

"How are you going to access the Greece sector?" asked Thomas.

"I am going to have to access the nearest mound in this sector to the Jerusalem sector. That mound is the primary gateway to the Jerusalem sector from the Egypt sector. Each non-central sector has one mound that serves as the sector's primary gateway to the Jerusalem sector. Other mounds in each sector can serve as gateways to the Jerusalem sector, as well, if and whenever needed. But traveling through them to the Jerusalem sector is quite often more dangerous, in fact. And the chances of sufficiently successful transportation, between the two sectors that might then be in question at such times, are often greatly reduced. This is for various, and for many, reasons that I really would prefer not to mention to you both in full enough detail at this particular time, at least, if ever, that is," said Tiffany.

"I see. Well, when can you go there? And will you need an escort to the mound in question, perhaps, Tiffany?" asked Thomas.

"I can go there now. And the Demons in the Egypt sector seem to be asleep at this time. Or at least not very active, anyway."

"Then please try to get there, and let us know if you need any help at all," said Thomas.

"Of course, Data-Keeper," said Tiffany. She signed off for a while here, and set off for the required gateway mound elsewhere in the Egypt sector. It took her at least a little while, if not a long while, to get there well enough, by the way. But she eventually did so, while still on foot, by the time that it was nearly 6:45 in the evening, local time. When she did that well enough, she soon reported, "I'm now accessing the Jerusalem sector. I'll report in when I leave it here. There are a few things that I need to check first, though, in this sector, for the obvious reasons."

Thomas said, as he just remembered something that might be important for him at the present time in his own life, "Understood. We're standing by here, Tiffany."

"Message received. This may take a while here, just for your information, you two," said Tiffany.

"I am heading home briefly. Scarlett will be around, in my absence. I have a few things to take care of there, at least, it seems. I will return here as soon as possible," said Thomas.

"Message received. Must you go, though? Scarlett, do you have to go home as well?" asked Tiffany.

"Yes, I must go, Spirit Girl," said Thomas.

"No, I don't have to go home for the rest of this night here, in fact, Tiffany. My parents are actually expecting me to stay overnight with two of my friends. They aren't expecting me to be at their place until at least 7:30 pm, if not even later than that. So I can still be here for a while, at least," said Scarlett.

"I see. And if you have to leave while Thomas is otherwise occupied, Scarlett?"

"Then I'll call one of the boys. Perhaps Gawain. I'm not sure just yet, though, Tiffany," said Scarlett with an almost serious look on her face as she did so.

"Very well. Do what you two must, then, and I'll check in with you both later. God willing, of course," said Tiffany, a few seconds later.

"Agreed, Tiffany," said Thomas. "Now if you two ladies will excuse me, I have a few things, at least, at home that I must take care of in very short order."

"Please try to hurry back, Data-Keeper," said Tiffany.

"Will do, Spirit Girl," said Thomas. He then left Scarlett alone in the Computer Room, in very short order. Rather reluctantly, in fact, he did so here.

Seconds later, Scarlett saw Tiffany's virtual face disappear from the computer's main screen here, for all the obvious reasons. After Tiffany's virtual face did that, Scarlett then stood by, and waited for her to come back on that screen, just as patiently as she could do just that here.

As Scarlett waited for Tiffany to return to the screen, she put away her sketchpad, pencils, and eraser here. Then she reached into her handbag and took out a notebook and one of her school books, sitting on the floor somewhere near the main computer, as she still waited for Tiffany here. She worked on her homework for a while as she waited. The school subject she worked on her schoolwork for while she was still waiting was Social Studies 9, in fact. Scarlett worked fairly diligently on it for about half an hour or so, more or less, before Tiffany finally paged her again here.

When Tiffany did so, Scarlett stashed away her notebook and school book in her handbag, in very short order. With that then done, Scarlett put herself right back behind the main computer's keyboard and screen here almost immediately afterward, of course.

Tiffany said, "I'm done in the Jerusalem sector for now, it seems, Scarlett. I am now going to head into the Greece sector."

"Understood. Do you want me to summon the others?" asked Scarlett, not sure if Tiffany would need an escort into the Greece sector of her realm.

"Not yet. If I need you to summon them, then I'll let you know, Scarlett."

"Very well. Standing by for further instructions, then, Tiffany."

Tiffany's face disappeared from the main window of the computer's screen, and Scarlett waited. As she waited again for Tiffany's return to the screen here, Sylvester and Gawain rather unexpectedly showed up in the Computer Room.

"What are you doing here, you two?" asked Scarlett, in a very surprised manner, in fact.

"My parents are home, and conked out in their bed much earlier than normal for them both," said Sylvester. "The animals at my family's residence are all taken care of, and I really do not expect them to require further attending until sometime tomorrow afternoon, at the very earliest, Scarlett. My parents came back much earlier than they normally have, by the way, from their usual partying. I do not know why, just yet, if I ever will. But perhaps this reason or these reasons will keep them both from partying again for some time, whatever the reason or reasons might actually be here."

"And what about you, Gawain?" asked Scarlett, after the three of them had made at least a little bit of small talk with each other here. While they had, Scarlett had unintentionally let it slip to both Sylvester and Gawain that she had a rather huge family, in terms of its size, compared to what might be expected of an average family in the United States of America on this particular Earth. Most families in the USA on this Earth had two parents and somewhere between four to six children of whatever ages in them, in fact.

"My parents know that I often go walking after school, and that I even walk, at least sometimes, in the evening or night, Scarlett. I'm the only one of their five children still living with them. All four of my siblings are either now in college or they're now married. Except in the case of my oldest sister Johanna, who's now out of college and living alone in Tokyo, Japan, by her own willing choice in her life, that is. Johanna is now a creator of several anime and manga series, in fact. She's currently dating a baseball player for one of the teams in Japan's major leagues, if I remember things well enough here. At least in that sort of thing, anyway. I think he now plays for the Chiba Lotte Marines as an infielder, while I'm at it here."

Scarlett asked, "I see. And just how many sisters do you have overall, then, Gawain?"

"I have three older sisters. Plus one older brother, by logical extension, of course, Scarlett. My nearest sibling is about five years older than me, more or less, and she is Tanya. As for Johanna, she is now 23, at least until late July of next year. My brother Eric is a twin, and his twin is Abigail. Eric and Abigail are now both 21, as of this past January, with Abigail being about twenty or so minutes older than Eric, more or less."

"So the only one of us who doesn't actually have much of an immediate family, in terms of its size, is Sylvester, Gawain?" asked Scarlett.

"It really appears to be the case right now for us all here. That's at least as far as I can currently tell here, just so you both know that sufficiently well for future reference, perhaps.. I've now somehow learned through various sources that Thomas actually has three siblings, one of which is older than he is now. I now have four siblings of my own. Sylvester now has none. And you now have nineteen. At least up to this point in time for your life, anyway, Scarlett. Most of your siblings are older, while others are younger, of course."

"I really don't want any more siblings, if I don't have to have them, Gawain."

"Well, it appears you're still going to have them, whether you like it or not, Scarlett. Maybe these will be your parents' last natural children overall."

"One can only hope. I really don't want to be roped into taking care of them periodically, if I don't have to be. But I might have no choice in the matter, Gawain. I really am hoping that I won't have so many children of my own later on in my life. But with the way that things often are in my life, I might just have a good number of children in it, just the same."

"And do you want to have a lot of children, Scarlett?" asked Sylvester.

"Four will perhaps be the tops for me, God willing, boys."

"And if it isn't God's will, Scarlett?" asked Gawain.

"Then so be it. But it seems to me that my family's members often seem to breed like rabbits, so to speak, Gawain. It's quite often like this, I think, in my family tree. Once two unrelated people might happen to marry each other in their respective lives, and are definitely part of my family tree, something normally hidden to that point in time for them all then apparently kicks in, somehow. And they both quite often start producing, very soon afterward, usually-healthy offspring in rather considerable numbers for many years of their lives together. Even into their own sixties and seventies, at least. If not even longer than that, in fact. I really don't know why that might be, of course, by the way. But I really wouldn't be surprised if my parents have at least forty natural children together in their lives, if certain things still somehow continue for them as they've actually been for them both in the past."

Thomas suddenly entered the Computer Room again. And when he did, it was then about 7:30 pm, local time. Scarlett was surprised to see him back so soon, and Thomas said, after she asked him why he was back so soon, "My parents made up some portable enough supper for me earlier, and they actually let me leave home without eating it there, Scarlett. For they'd decided to go somewhere with the rest of the family this evening and night. They brought me back in this general direction for a while, but not all the way. They did so even as they were carrying my bicycle in the back of our family's van. At least until I asked them to drop me off a little ways from this place, anyway. They don't plan on actually being home tonight again with everyone else in my immediate family before 11, I believe. So I'll be able to stay here for at least a little while, it seems."

Scarlett said, "If that's so, then I really hope that you don't mind me going to my friends' place for the rest of the night, Thomas."

"No, I don't think I do. But if we need you, for any reason, can we summon you, Scarlett?"

"I suppose so. I hope you won't have to, you know, of course, Thomas."

"As do I. But your assistance might still be needed later, before you retire for the rest of the night, just the same, Scarlett," said Thomas.

"I'm aware of that fact. But I still hope that it won't really be necessary for me to leave my friends' place before I go to school tomorrow with them, Thomas," said Scarlett, while also beginning to gather up her various things that still were near her and the rest of her current companions then in the Computer Room. She quickly began doing just that here, for all the obvious reasons, of course.

"Agreed. And by the way, what do you all think we should call this whole building complex, if we possibly can, kids?" asked Thomas.

"Promised Land Theater, Thomas," said Tiffany, rather suddenly, as she popped back up in a window somewhere on the main computer's main screen. "Evidently, even as I've periodically discovered certain things while in this realm, its creator called the building complex that you're now in by that name."

"I was thinking something along the lines of 'Holy Land Construction' or something similar enough to that, Tiffany," said Thomas.

"The creator of my virtual realm considered that name, but ultimately chose to call it 'Promised Land Theater.' So I suggest that we all do the same, if I may, Thomas."

"Very well, Tiffany, since it is your virtual realm, and since you evidently know more about this building complex than we do at present, whether or not you always will, we'll call it by that name," said Thomas, a few brief moments later, after thinking quietly about it for a little while.

"Thank you, Data-Keeper. By the way, I have just entered the Greece sector. I'm going to board the ship, in very short order. I now am going to do some investigation in the sector, and then get back to you all as soon as I can. I'm really hoping that none of you actually will have to come here for a while, of course," said Tiffany, once the Data-Keeper's most recent response had logged sufficiently well into her virtual brain, in fact.

"Understood. Take care, and God bless, and all that, of course," said Thomas. The other three kids now with Thomas in the Computer Room each said basically the same things as Thomas had just said to her, not too long afterward. Then Scarlett left all three boys alone in that particular part of the building with each other in very short order, as she left for her friends' place elsewhere in the local area, for that matter.

Tiffany popped off Thomas's main computer screen again, in order to better focus on checking out the Greece sector of her realm. She then boarded the ship, and began exploring in the Greece sector where the digital wind of some sort might actually take her in it. At least for the most part, if not entirely, anyway. She encountered no opposition of any kind for quite some time. Eventually, she brought the Truth's Sword to a dock quite near a mound on a small island of some sort. She accessed that mound in very short order, even as the 11th became the 12th in the St. Peter local area. When she paged the others not long after that, in order to let them know that was the case, Sylvester finally answered her page, after being woken up by it.

By that time, Thomas and Gawain had both left the entire building complex, for the obvious reasons. But Sylvester had stayed, and had fallen asleep, in the Computer Room on the floor by 11 pm. It took Tiffany about ten minutes or so to finally get Sylvester's attention well enough in it, after she began paging whoever might have then been in it when she'd started to do that, in fact. But, eventually, Sylvester was sufficiently conscious again in the Computer Room.

Sylvester asked, "Is that you, Scarlett?"

"No, Sylvester, it is Tiffany. I am now in a mound somewhere in the Greece sector. The Demons are apparently going to attempt an attack sometime right after your next day of school. They didn't attack on September 11, 2007, but they were beginning to mass for this new attack, it seems."

Sylvester rubbed his eyes a few seconds, so as to hopefully get any sand of a sort that might have just started to accumulate out of them at least a little bit, if not entirely. Then he asked, "What time do you expect them to attack, then, Tiffany?"

"No earlier than 3:45 in the afternoon, if even that early, Sylvester."

"I see. Will my presence most likely be required here for the rest of the night, by any chance?"  
"I doubt it, Sylvester."

"Then, with your permission, I will return to my family's residence until I have to wake up for school later today, seeing as it is now past local midnight here."

"Granted. Pleasant dreams, and all that, then, Sylvester. I really hope things work out for you and your parents, of course."

"Understood. By the way, do you sleep?"

"Not necessarily as you do, as far as I currently know in my own existence, Sylvester. But I suppose that I do sleep somehow, just the same. I'm not quite sure exactly how that might actually be the case for me, but I still suppose that I do, in any case at all."

"Well, then, if you do actually have that particular capability in your current existence, I really hope that you will have a good sleep period of whatever kind or kinds you might have them as, the next time you have one, Tiffany. And that you will have rather pleasant dreams of a sort, et cetera, the next time you do actually have one of them, for that matter, in fact."

"Thank you, Sylvester. I shall endeavor to do just that, if, whenever, and however, I possibly can in the future, of course."

"Good night. I will return later, God willing, then, Tiffany."

"Agreed, Sylvester," said Tiffany. Sylvester soon vacated the Computer Room and the entire building complex with no unnecessary delay as he was doing just that in his life. Tiffany went to sleep soon afterward as well, for that matter. It was 12:30 in the morning when both of them fell asleep in whatever states of sleep were then possible for them, in fact.

* * *

About fifteen hours later, Thomas and three others came to the Theater, for Tiffany had thought that the Demons might attack not too long after that. Of course, the three others with Thomas at that time were Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain. They all arrived in the Theater's Computer Room by 3:45, and only briefly conversed with each other and with Tiffany before Scarlett led Sylvester and Gawain to the necessary elevator shaft in the Theater.. By 3:50, then, the three required Warriors were in the Booth Room. Two minutes after that, at most, they were all on their ways to the Greece sector to meet up with Tiffany there.

They all landed mere moments later on the deck of the Truth's Sword, which looked largely like a barque, but not entirely. For it carried 32 guns of at least one sort, if not more than one, and it had only two main masts instead of at least three, as many barques had often been known to have under normal enough situations. They landed near the bow of the ship, and Tiffany soon welcomed them to it, as soon as she realized they were now aboard it well enough.

The ship was roughly eighty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and 110 feet tall from the top of the forward mast to the waterline, with another fifteen feet present below the waterline level. Tiffany said, "I don't have time right now to give you a tour of this ship, everyone. For Demons are about to attack somewhere in this sector, and we need to find them and engage them as soon as we can. Sylvester, man the guns. Gawain, take the wheel, so to speak, of this ship. Scarlett, help Sylvester by loading the guns. I'll be trying to locate the Demons, along with Thomas, while you all are doing those things, for your information."

"Aye, Aye, Captain," said all the other Warriors, in due time, of course. At least the ones who were now with Tiffany aboard her ship, anyway.

Eventually, Thomas and Tiffany located the Demons they were looking for in the Grecian Sea, and Tiffany told Gawain where to sail in order to engage them. Sylvester and Scarlett saw that all the guns were loaded as needed prior to the planned engagement, of course. It took them until about 5:30 in the late afternoon to be within the desired ship's firing range of the Demons they were then hunting. Those Demons included many Sharks and Octopi, as well as some Vultures, in fact. The Truth's Sword held its fire until they were no more than two thousand feet away from their nearest opponents, even while still being attacked by several Octopi at a rather considerable distance from them. When Tiffany gave the word to fire, then, Sylvester and Scarlett activated an automatic firing and reloading protocol that Tiffany had discovered while she and Thomas had been searching for the Demons they had just located and come under fire from. Many Octopi and Sharks were hit by the defensive fire from the Truth's Sword, quite obviously enough. The Vultures soon dove on the crew of the Truth's Sword, and the Warriors quickly found themselves fighting on the ship's top deck and in its electronic rigging of some sort.

All the Warriors found themselves battling in various places all over the ship quite soon after actually engaging the Demons' group. Even Tiffany found herself doing just that, by the way. Scarlett was rather suddenly knocked overboard, and into the virtual water near the ship's port side, by a Shark leaping over the ship's nearest railing. Scarlett soon found herself being seriously chased by several rather good-sized Octopi and Sharks, and was only able to actually avoid being killed or de-materialized, due to the way the battle was then going for her and the rest of her group, by sheer good fortune, somehow. She soon found herself sinking to the nearest bottom of the Grecian Sea. And as she was still sinking, a moderately warm, but not too warm, underwater geyser of some sort hit her on her left side, and knocked her into an underground cavern of some sort. After it did, she soon found herself rather unexpectedly in a moderately large, but not extremely large, air pocket inside that very same cavern. She soon investigated the inside of that cavern, having little other choice at the present time. For she'd nearly run out of air very soon after being knocked quite unceremoniously into the Grecian Sea somewhere by the aforementioned Shark. She rather quickly found four tunnels leading away from that cavern, and then chose one at random, not knowing just where it might lead her, of course.

After she chose one of those four tunnels, the air pocket somehow actually moved with her to at least some degree, if not to a great degree. In time, the tunnel she was now in actually led her to another underwater cavern. When she entered it, she found a quite large cache of assorted jewels and many other kinds of items, in very short order, after some lanterns of yet-unknown sorts suddenly flickered right to life in it.

She examined many of those things in that particular previously-unknown cavern for at least a few minutes. But not for more than about five or so minutes, in any case at all, quite naturally enough. And both hands were especially drawn to certain jewels and certain bracelets in that cache of assorted items. They were essentially both drawn there without any prior intent of that nature for them from her at all, in fact. Next, she found four medium-sized water-proof pouches also unexpectedly hidden within that rather large cache of items. And she quite quickly began filling them with whatever she could then get her hands on easily enough, if she thought they were sufficiently worth her taking here, by the way.

Within ten more minutes, at most, she had all four of those very same pouches filled as best as she then could fill them here easily enough. She soon secured them to her fighting outfit to the best of her current ability to do just that. And after she did so, she began heading in the direction that she'd come a little while before. As she headed back to where the geyser had sent her into the first cavern earlier, she rather unexpectedly found herself unknowingly stumbling over a double-tank breathing apparatus and a pair of swimming goggles. At least at first, anyway. For she'd not seen them at first as she was heading back to where she'd been sent into the air pocket she was now still in, in fact.

Before she eventually left the air pocket the geyser had sent her into, she made as sure as she then could that she had the necessary swimming goggles and scuba gear that she'd just found in the tunnel between the two caverns she'd just been present in on perfectly, of course. Two minutes later, at most, she left that air pocket, and headed for where the geyser had been that'd sent her into it.

Moments later, she was hit by the geyser as she walked over where it had shot out from. It hit her on her stomach, as she did so. And when it did, it shot her straight up rather speedily, until she broke the surface with minimal visual disruption of it on her part, and until she'd shot up to an altitude of four hundred or so feet above it., more or less As she then shot up in the air, courtesy of the geyser, she quickly began bombarding many of the still-present Vultures, Sharks, and Octopi with many throwing stars, knives, and cards, at the very least, if nothing else as well. Before the geyser finally cut out beneath her here, she then did a rather unexpected gymnastics-like series of maneuvers. She did twenty forward somersaults with eleven twists in a rather quick manner until she landed quite safely and quite gently on the ship's deck just behind where Tiffany and Sylvester were fighting back-to-back with each other. The virtual corpses of about six hundred Vultures, Sharks, and Octopi often were still present to at least some degree on or around the ship when Scarlett returned to the deck of the Truth's Sword, in fact.

Fifteen minutes or so later, then, not one single Demon remained sufficiently able to fight against the Warriors in the current battle. Especially after Scarlett produced items from the pouches she'd filled while in the cavern where the cache she'd found was located. She gave Sylvester several arrows for his bow, at least, for example. Also, she gave Gawain a mostly purple and orange trumpet to use in the future, if and whenever possible. And Tiffany got a bazooka-like missile launcher with many holomissiles available for it, as long as it was sufficiently charged with energy at any time its use was desired or required for her.

After Scarlett distributed assorted items to the other Warriors who were then with her, and to herself, as the present situation required her to distribute them here, the four Warriors soon used them to fight back against their many remaining opponents. And the Demons either were taken out of the fight completely or they were forced to run for their lives, so to speak, once the Warriors used those items well enough against them all. At least another two hundred more Demons, but no more than about 400 or so additional ones, soon were taken out completely by the Warriors, in whatever ways necessary, before the battle finally ended with no remaining doubt about the actual winners of it.

It took the four now-present Warriors until about 7, then, to attend to the numerous virtual corpses, or various parts of numerous virtual corpses, as the need actually arose for them all there well enough, after they'd finished having to fight in the battle against many different Demons, in fact. But eventually, they were able to do so quite well enough on and/or around the Truth's Sword. Even if they didn't really like the idea of having to deal with them at all. Even Scarlett, by the way, had to help deal with them there. After the last virtual corpse had been attended to as needed there, then, Tiffany quickly turned the Truth's Sword in the now-required main direction that'd bring it quite near the currently activated mound elsewhere in the Greece sector. By 7:30 pm, local time, Tiffany brought the Truth's Sword to the nearest dock to that mound, and made absolutely sure that it was moored there quite well enough before she and the other three Warriors with her at that time actually left it as necessary. With that done, she soon led them all to the activated mound then in question. Or at least as close to it as she could lead them all there before she accessed it in the required manner, anyway.

Five or so minutes later, at most, she de-activated it as needed, and the other three Warriors then with her were all sent back to the real world again in the usual manner, of course. It took them all at least a few more rather quiet minutes to re-adjust fully back to the real world that they were more familiar with in their respective lives, quite naturally enough, in fact.

* * *

Sylvester was actually the first of them to speak as all three of the Warriors who weren't forced to spend all their time in 'Israel' then entered the necessary elevator that'd take them all up to the Computer Room again, in fact. He said, "I really thought you were a goner, Scarlett, when that Shark knocked you overboard."

"I very nearly was, Sylvester. If it hadn't been for a great deal of rather good fortune, I might very well have been. But I was, quite fortunately enough, rather unexpectedly sent into an underwater cavern where there was an air pocket of at least some reasonable size then present. I soon afterward found another cavern with a rather large cache of items after randomly choosing one of four tunnels between it and the cavern I was originally in after being sent there by an underwater geyser rather unexpectedly."

"And you eventually came up back up to the rest of us on the Truth's Sword with some items for us all, I believe," said Gawain.

"Yes, I most certainly did do just that, Gawain. I even came back aboard the ship with at least some items that I think might really happen to interest Thomas in his own life, by the way," answered Scarlett.

"So what did you really think of our very first experience in the Greece sector for her realm, Scarlett?" asked Sylvester, even as their current elevator opened to show the Computer Room again. Fifteen or so seconds later, at most, then, all three of them rejoined Thomas near the main computer's main screen, after they'd left that elevator again here, by the way.

"It's not something that I really would rather see us repeat very often, if ever again, Sylvester. I really didn't like getting knocked overboard, of course, during the battle that we just fought in 'Israel.' This is for all of the obvious reasons, quite naturally enough, just so you know that here well enough."

"So you really don't want to go back there again, if at all possible, Scarlett?" asked Thomas, who'd turned to face his fellow Earthlings here as Scarlett was answering Sylvester's most recent question, a few rather brief and rather silent moments later.

"Let's put it this way, if I may, Thomas. At least for now, if not once and for all, anyway. Of the three sectors in her virtual realm that I've actually visited so far, the Greece sector in it is currently my least-favorite one of the three. I think I like the Egypt sector most of all, at least in terms of those same three sectors in her realm, so far, though," said Scarlett.

"While you four were all otherwise occupied, I began to run at least a few programs here on this main computer. I then did that in order to try to gather at least a bit more information about the inhabitants of her virtual realm and about the various sectors in it, just so you all know that well enough here, kids. It seems that Gawain will be the strongest Warrior in the group, at least in terms of the sectors that actually happen to have an above-average concentration of virtual water for them in comparison to all the other other sectors of her realm. Sylvester, you'll likely be the strongest, at least in terms of sectors with an above-average concentration of vegetation, I honestly think. Scarlett, you'll likely be the strongest in sectors that are mainly desert or plains of a sort, at least for now. And I think Tiffany will be strongest in sectors with an above-average concentration of mountains, caverns, or clouds, for instance."

The four teens conversed with each other for at least a little while longer, before eventually parting from each other for the rest of the late evening or early night. They all parted from each other by 8 pm local time on Wednesday, September 12, 2007, by the way. Thomas was the last of the four Terrans to leave the Theater, in fact. And he left it at about 8:15 pm local time, about three minutes or so after Gawain did so.

Thomas took all the necessary things with him that he'd brought there earlier, as well as at least a few of the things that Scarlett had rather unexpectedly gathered up in a pouch while she'd actually been in the second underwater cavern earlier, for that matter. He arrived back at his family's residence with all those things by 8:45 pm local time, in fact. Thomas soon slipped upstairs with all those things, and hid them in various places in his part of the room, if and whenever necessary, before he changed his clothes and went downstairs for a rather late supper of whatever he could then find for himself well enough. He decided to have some still-available pizza, grape juice, and some water, among other things. He quickly heated up the pizza slices he'd chosen for himself, poured himself two glasses of the above beverage kinds, and got himself a few other food-type items as part of his supper. By 9:15, then, he had finished both making up some supper for himself and consuming it all, no matter what he'd gotten himself for it, in fact.

By 9:30, he actually had returned to his and Silas's bedroom again, and begun studying and doing his homework for about the next two hours, more or less. He mainly studied and worked on it until about 11:30, after which he used only about the next fifteen minutes to half an hour, maybe, to do whatever he then needed or wanted to do online for a while. He retired to his bed, in any case, sometime around local midnight. Ten minutes or after he did so, he was quite soundly asleep again in his bed, in fact. However, he didn't actually do so before about 12:15 in the morning, by the way, at least a half hour later than he normally would be like that in his own life.

And so he slept quite soundly indeed in his bed. All while not yet knowing what the future would hold for him and anyone else in his life, for all the obvious reasons at the current time, he still did so now. He'd not rise again from his bed until at least six more hours had passed for him in his life, in any case at all, though.

* * *

The next chapter of this particular story will be up soon enough here, if at all possible. If you have any good enough ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, as long as they are male-female in nature, I'm quite willing to hear them, in fact. I really hope that you all might come to enjoy this story and its related series quite a bit, of course. Please read and review quite constructively, if at all possible, quite often, if and whenever you might so choose, people. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!" 


	4. Chapter Four:  Four Warriors At School

All of the characters and the other story elements that are present in this story are entirely mine here, and are used fictitiously, unless otherwise stated. I really do hope that you'll all actually enjoy this story's fourth chapter here, of course.

And before any of you actually ask here, nobody who's actually from Jeremy's group will be in this particular story just yet. At least not in a physical sense, anyway. Though they all will be mentioned to at least some degree, if not to a great degree, people. That is all. Now on with the story!

* * *

Chapter Four: Four Warriors At School

On Monday, September 17, 2007, Thomas and many other students went to school at St. Peter High School, as usual. Thomas went to his first class with many other students, which was Spanish I, while Scarlett went to Science 9, Sylvester to English 9, and Gawain to Algebra 9, as well. Tiffany wasn't yet enrolled, if she would eventually be enrolled, at St. Peter High School, though.

Thomas and the other Warriors didn't actually get the chance to see each other for a long enough time until lunch, by the way. In the meantime, however, they did attend their respective classes, of course. Thomas started out with Spanish I, and with Mr. Herzog as his teacher in it.

A few of his friends or his classmates over several years were in the required classroom already when he entered it at 8:15 or so local time. Among them were Sergio Boldin, Brian Rivers, and Malcolm McNabb, to name just a few of them. There were also several girls present in the room as well, for that matter.

One of the girls then with him in the classroom was Noelle Martin, and she went by the name of Natalie in their Spanish class. While he went by the Spanish version of his name, by the way. He said, in Spanish, in very short order, "Good morning, Natalie. I trust you had a good weekend at Serenity Lake not far from here."

She answered, in the same language, "It was just fine, Tomas. I had a bunch of fun with several girl friends of mine there. We even caught a few performances of songs by assorted Christian musical acts, for your information, just in case you're interested in hearing about them."

They continued conversing in Spanish, and would do so at least until the teacher entered the classroom here, in fact, with Thomas next asking, "I see, Natalie. Perhaps you can tell me about them later?"

"Maybe during our art class, Tomas?"

"That would be fine with me, if at all possible, Natalie."

"Then I'll try to tell you more about my weekend during our art class, Tomas."

Just then, Mr. Herzog entered the classroom, and everyone took their assigned seats in it, by the way. Even Thomas and Noelle did that here, of course. Five to ten minutes later, at most, after attendance had been taken well enough, and any now-due assignments had been collected as needed, Mr. Herzog began teaching the class. He lectured the sixteen or so students in the class for about fifteen or so more minutes, before giving everyone their assignments for the current day and week. After he did that, he let everyone else in the class get to work on them as they then saw fit, within logical enough reason, here.

That done, Mr. Herzog began working on many assignments that he still had to look over and grade now, in fact. Thomas and everyone else didn't cause any trouble at all in his class here. For he had, over many years of service to the St. Peter School District, earned a distinguished reputation for quite substantial strictness in his classes. And he'd not generally deviate from that practice in them, if he didn't absolutely have to. Any misbehavior in his classes were quite often dealt with very strongly. So nobody horsed around in his classes if they could possibly avoid it at all, no matter what they might usually do in their lives.

Eventually, Thomas, Sergio, Brian, and Malcolm set their books aside for a while, after first getting permission from Mr. Herzog to do so here. That done, Sergio quickly produced two portable chess sets, two chess clocks, and two chessboards, from his backpack. He did this all here even while Brian and Malcolm cleared a table elsewhere in the classroom to set those boards, sets, and clocks on for a while, in fact.

Thomas and Sergio, among others, soon came to that table, and two games started mere moments later, with others in the classroom watching them both. Among those people was Noelle, by the way. She had lost to Thomas in the finals match that he'd recently won the chess camp's Championship trophy in, for that matter.

The four players who played chess in the classroom until just before the bell rang to end it were Thomas, Sergio, Brian, and Malcolm. Thomas played Brian, and Sergio Malcolm. They played as quickly as they could, but they all still had to suspend the two games, for they couldn't actually finish them both in the time that'd still been available to them during their common Spanish I class here. Mr. Herzog and Noelle then quickly noted the respective games' current positions and move histories, as needed here, for all of the obvious reasons.

When everything related to those games was taken care of as needed, Sergio and the others who'd been playing chess with or near him helped him gather up all the necessary things before the class period ended here well enough. No less than twenty seconds before the period was due to end, in any case at all, then, everything was stashed away as needed back in Sergio's backpack here, of course.

By that time, Thomas also had all his necessary things dealt with as needed here, so that he didn't have to waste any unnecessary time in getting to his English 9 class in another classroom for the high school's main building. Two minutes after Spanish I ended for him, then, he was in the next classroom he'd have to be in during the school day.

English 9 went reasonably well for him, as it often would during a typical school day. As did Health 9, which he would have on alternating school days, whenever he didn't have Physical Education 9. History 9 went so-so for him, due to an unexpected pop quiz about ancient civilizations, such as the Babylonians, for example. By the time it was the Senior High School's lunch period, he was sort of upset, having not done as well as he often would on various school-related tests.

Angela caught up with him as he headed toward the school's main cafeteria, and asked, "What's up, Thomas, if I may ask you this now?"

"I didn't do as well as expected on an unexpected History 9 pop quiz from Mrs. Meir. So I'm sort of upset right now, Angela."

"What did she drop on you for a pop quiz focus, Thomas?"

"Ancient civilizations, mainly dealing with the Babylonians, Angela."

"Ouch. What did you get, if you don't mind telling me, Thomas?"

"A low D-range grade. Just barely above getting an F, in fact, Angela."

"Mom and Dad won't be happy that you did so, I'm quite sure. Of course you studied about several different ancient civilizations last night, didn't you, Thomas?" asked Angela, as she began receiving her food from school cooks here, just before he did.

"Yes, Angela, I did. However, I think I studied about the wrong civilizations more than I did the right ones, quite unintentionally. Mrs. Meir apparently has a reputation for springing unexpected pop quizzes on her students, from what I've learned to date of her from various people who've been in her classes before."

As Thomas began receiving his own food, Scarlett and the other Warriors came up behind him and his sister. Angela said, "Hello, Scarlett Relsena. I wonder if you and your friends were able to solve the matter that you required my brother's help in well enough, by any chance. At least partly, anyway." Angela had asked around about her brother's most recently-made friends, and had learned the names of three of them. She still didn't yet know about Tiffany, if she ever would. But she now knew at least a little bit about Scarlett, Sylvester, and Gawain, at least, if nobody else as well among the many other students of St. Peter High School.

"Yes, Miss Angela, we were, in fact," answered Scarlett. "We were somehow able to at least partly do so, though we haven't yet actually been able to do so entirely. We hope to do that eventually, though. God willing, of course."

"I see. Well, I hope you all can solve it soon, just the same, Scarlett."

"As do we all. In order to do that well enough, though, it'll still require at least a little bit more help from your brother here, for your information, Miss Angela. Whatever that entails, by the way."

"Well, then, good luck, or good fortune, whichever you all prefer, I hope, kids. If you need any help at all, and you think I can provide it somehow, please let me know, okay, Scarlett?"

"We will, I'm sure, Miss Angela. However, Thomas is basically the leader of our current group of friends here and now, it seems."

"So I've apparently heard, Scarlett." Angela then left the Warriors alone, and headed elsewhere in the main cafeteria, in order to be with several of her classmates there.

After the other Warriors received their lunch items as well, they moved to their usual table in the cafeteria, and soon began to consume them as needed. As they did so, Thomas asked, "How have your days been so far for all of you, kids?"

Sylvester answered, a few moments later, after taking a sip of some milk, "They have been just fine for me, at least for the most part. I had a test in Hebrew I earlier today. I received a grade of 88 percent on it, which gave me a B-plus, I believe, Thomas."

"Good for you, Sylvester. It is always good to get a good grade in class, whenever possible. However, I don't always do quite as well as I probably could if I studied more and studied better." Thomas took a bite of some three-cheese pizza.

"Because, Thomas?" asked Gawain. Gawain took a bite of some fruit salad.

"I often don't pay as much attention, or at least not as close attention, to my schoolwork as I probably should in my life. I often am distracted by assorted things in it, whether I want to be or not, as well. And it has often caused me problems before in it. Even when I'm actually dealing with certain people I might encounter or know in it, at least every once in a while, if not always, for that matter, Gawain."

Scarlett ate a bit of her own pizza, and then asked, "Might that cause problems for us in the future, by any chance, then, Thomas?"

"I hope not, of course. But you know that things can often happen in life that people might not actually expect to happen, right, Scarlett?"

"Yes, I suppose I do, come to think of it. Such as my parents producing even more kids every once in a while, for instance, Thomas?"

"Exactly, Scarlett," said Thomas, as he sipped some of his own milk, just before taking a bite of his fruit salad here. "It isn't something you really like all that much, I suppose."

"Correct. But there's nothing I can really do about it, it seems to me, Thomas."

"Maybe not. At least not for them both, anyway, I think, Scarlett. Except for maybe praying that they don't have any more children after the ones that they may have soon enough?"

"Perhaps, Thomas. Perhaps," said Scarlett. "But wouldn't that possibly be rather disrespectful to them both in order to do that?"

"It might, but that's a decision that only you can make, in terms of whether or not to pray for such a thing to happen to them both, of course, Scarlett," said Thomas.

Eventually, all four of them finished having their lunches with each other as needed here. And they all did so while often conversing rather quietly with each other, for that matter. They agreed to meet again as soon as possible after school ended, wherever and whenever that might be possible for them all, in fact. Preferably somewhere in the Theater, by the way.

After they were done with their respective lunches, they soon parted from each other and headed to their next classes on their own class schedules, of course. Thomas went to his Science 9 class, Scarlett to her Home Economics 9 class, Sylvester to his Health 9 class, and Gawain to a study hall period, in fact.

Three class periods later, Thomas saw Noelle again. Thomas and Noelle lived just about a mile apart, as the proverbial crow might fly in the local area. When he did, he soon saw that Noelle had changed sometime earlier in the day into a mostly red and white blouse over a mostly green skirt that fell just below her knees and a pair of mostly black closed-toe sandals with one-inch heels. He had seen her in a mostly white blouse and black skirt of about the same length during Spanish I over a pair of mostly white pumps, in fact.

"Hello, Thomas. Have you had a reasonably good day today?" asked Noelle, after the class was sufficiently enough underway here, by the way.  
"For the most part, yes, Noelle." They soon continued working on a recently-started two-person project with each other as the need then arose for them both here. This project was a sculpture that they had to work on with each other until it was done. They had mutually decided to do it in marble, and it was of considerable size, as well. They both had begun work on it the very first day that they'd had an Arts 9 class with each other for that very same school year, for that matter.

"Would you perhaps like to go to a nearby mall with me and a bunch of other people this afternoon, evening, and/or night, by any chance at all, Thomas?"

"No, I have other plans, it seems, Noelle." Thomas had picked the medium in which the sculpture would be done, and Noelle had proposed several ideas for that sculpture of theirs. This sculpture might take a good portion of the school year for them both to complete, depending on how often and how well the process went for them with it, of course. They only had started to chip away at the marble block they'd chosen to do their sculpture in on the previous class day for their Arts 9 class, after finally coming up with some suitable enough proposals for it in that class that'd satisfy their art teacher well enough here.

"And they don't have anything to do with me, perhaps, Thomas?"

"No, Noelle, they don't. Listen, I realize that you might still like me a good deal, but we're apparently not meant to be together with each other any longer as boyfriend and girlfriend. I like you very much, by the way, to tell you the truth here. But it now seems to me that all we can be with each other in the rest of our lives in this world, at the very most, is close friends of each other. I'm not getting the sense any longer that we are perhaps meant to possibly be husband and wife to each other in them. For a while, at least, I was actually getting that sense in my life, Noelle. But the Lord seems to now be leading me in another direction that'll actually require me to follow a separate path from you in our lives, for whatever reason or reasons He might now be doing that here in them both. I don't know just where He's currently leading me, and if He's actually leading me to someone else entirely, in my own life. At least not right now, anyway. But I still do know that He's at least leading me in a different direction than the one that you're evidently meant to follow."

They had three possible planned sculpture proposals approved by their teacher before they ever started to chip away at their marble block. One primary, and two back-up ones, just in case the other one or ones proved to be sufficiently unproduceable for either of them or both of them, in fact. And they didn't really want to start chipping away at their block too soon. For they wanted to make sure that they only chipped their block whenever necessary and desired by them, for the obvious reasons. They knew that once they chipped away bits of marble, they'd never be able to use them again well enough in their sculpture.

They worked quietly with each other for much of the period, using whatever tools and art-related supplies they then had to while they did so, of course. Periodically conversing with each other about various things that they either wanted or needed to talk about here, for that matter. They both occasionally took turns chipping away very so carefully at their block with each other, with both of them taking very close care not to chip wherever they didn't absolutely have to here, in fact. Even if it meant they could only chip away a very small portion of their current marble block, they still did so here and now.

Around 3:15 pm, then, they began getting ready to secure their block in a large storeroom near the main art room of the high school, and they began cleaning up their tools and things, of course. It took them both until about 3:25 pm, local time, to then take care of all the necessary things in their Arts 9 class here, in fact.

When the period finally ended, Noelle soon said, "Thomas, I hope that we get a really good grade on this sculpture of ours, whatever it might actually happen to look like whenever it's done well enough."

"As do I. Until tomorrow, then, perhaps, Noelle?"

"I suppose so. Just try to stay out of trouble of any kind, please, if at all possible. Okay, Thomas?"

"I will try, but life often springs surprises on people, you know, Noelle."

"Understood." Noelle and Thomas soon parted from each other, for the obvious reasons, of course.

When they did, Angela soon came up to her brother, and asked, "Do you want or need a ride back home now, Thomas?"

"No, I don't. I have other plans. I might be home in time for supper, though, if things go well enough for me in the meantime, Angela."

"You'll be with the kids again, Tom?"

"I suppose you could say that, Angela."

"Well, please try not to stay out too late, if you do, then, Tom. Okay?"

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't make any guarantees more definite than that now, Angela."

Angela nodded at him rather briefly indeed, before reluctantly leaving Tom all alone again outside the school's main building here, in fact. He patiently waited there for a few brief moments, at the very most. And he was quite soon afterward joined by the other three non-virtual members of his recently-formed group of friends, by the way.

After they actually were all left quite alone outside the school's main building, they all soon headed to the Theater with each other. They all arrived there at about 3:45 pm, local time, as would be the usual case for them all whenever they actually went there right after school ended for them all. They very soon afterward all came to the Computer Room, after a rather brief stop off in the Production Room first. Tiffany quickly greeted them all quite warmly as they then all did so here well enough. Tiffany was now in the Jerusalem sector of her virtual realm, by the way, as the other Warriors all entered the Theater's Computer Room with each other.

Tiffany said, "I trust your days at school were all fairly good today, fellow Warriors."

Thomas said, "For the most part, yes. I didn't do as well on one of my tests as I expected to do, though, Tiffany. It was an unexpected pop quiz, and it had a good portion of it dealing with the Babylonians, if not most of it, by the way."

"You bugged it, in essence, Thomas?"

"What, Tiffany? I don't understand."

"You did terrible on it, Thomas?"

"Yes, but just where did you get that sort of term from, if I might ask you this here, Tiffany?" asked Thomas, in a rather perplexed manner, in fact.

"There are assorted other virtual realms that are supposedly connected to this one somehow. Though I really don't yet know just how that might be sufficiently possible here. And one of them is protected at least in part by a virtual girl named Aelita, I believe. The name of her virtual realm appears to be 'Lyoko,' if I remember things well enough here. And there are at least a few other people who apparently help her out, both in and out of that realm of hers. I got the term from one of the aforementioned realms that might be connected to this one somehow, in fact. Just which one in particular I got it from here, though, the name somehow actually escapes me at the current time, Thomas."

Just then, Thomas's laptop beeped in his backpack not far from the Computer Room's main entrance. Scarlett heard it, as she was sketching Gawain and Sylvester playing cards with each other, and brought Thomas his backpack, with his permission, in very short order. Thomas soon withdrew his laptop from it, and Scarlett set his backpack on the floor near the main computer, when he asked her to very calmly.

"One moment, Tiffany, if you please. It seems I have a new message from elsewhere on my laptop now, by the way." Thomas began accessing that message even as he said that to her, in fact.

"No problem, Data-Keeper. The Demons haven't been busy for a while, it seems. I think I can spare you a few minutes, at least," said Tiffany, a few brief moments later.

Thomas read the message for a while, and it said, at least in part:

--

"Hello, Data-Keeper, this is Brainiac2K7. I saw your screen name on an Internet group dealing primarily with discussions about virtual realms, whether real or hypothetical, among other things that seemed to be acceptable topics of conversation in it. And I eventually thought, 'This person seems at least a little bit interesting to me here and now. Perhaps I should try to get in direct electronic contact with him, just as soon as I can.' So I soon decided to do just that, as evidenced by this particular electronic message to you here. My name is Jeremy. Jeremy Belpois, in fact. I help maintain a virtual realm that I discovered not long ago, myself. Along with several others. One of them is a virtual girl, for that matter. And the name of that particular virtual realm is 'Lyoko,' by the way.

"I have actually learned about the virtual existence of 'Israel,' while just browsing the World Wide Web, and we have only recently begun maintaining 'Lyoko' since learning about it a little while ago, in fact. We haven't been aware of it very long, but it seems that this virtual realm is at least a little similar to yours, from what little we know of it so far. Mainly Aelita and I, anyway. We both haven't yet told Yumi, Ulrich, or Odd about the existence of your virtual realm, but I suspect that we'll both eventually have to, if our enemy learns about your enemy or your enemy learns about ours.

"We all live in France, by the way. Or at least those of us who aren't tied to Lyoko all the time like your Tiffany currently seems to be tied to her virtual realm, anyway. We attend a school called Kadic Academy, and it is near Paris in our country. It isn't a very large school, perhaps, in comparison with yours, but it is of reasonably good size, just the same, I think.

"Our enemy's name is XANA, and we don't yet know all that much about him here. We have only tangled with him and his virtual monsters a few times, at most. Nothing major, at least as of yet, it seems. But we still have, Data-Keeper. We only learned about his actual existence no more than a few days or weeks ago, by the way, if I remember things well enough here."

--

The message continued for at least a little while, if not a long while, longer before its sender signed off. It didn't say much more, if anything at all, at the present moment that Thomas found relatively important here. But it did include at least some basic information about Lyoko and the five people presently defending it, whether they were virtual or not. Eventually, Jeremy, AKA Brainiac 2K7, signed off, and ended his message to Thomas here.

Thomas eventually closed his laptop a bit, handing it to Scarlett as he did so, before speaking again here to everyone else. He said, "I was wondering about certain things that might be at least somewhat common in virtual realms. So I looked for some online groups where such topics, or similar enough ones to them, might be discussed at least occasionally, if not all the time. I may have mentioned 'Israel' at least once or twice in one or more of them, without intending to or planning to, come to think of it. I don't think I did, but if I did, then I did. Perhaps he was just browsing the Internet, and learned about it another way instead, just as he told me in his earlier message, kids."

"I wonder what he's like, and what the rest of his team members are like, Thomas," said Tiffany, after a little bit of silent contemplation here, in fact.

"Four members of his team appear to be from Europe, and one from Asia, if I can read the information he sent me well enough here. It seems that a good portion, at least, if not most or all, of it is in French, not English. I have begun running it through the computer here to translate it fully into English from French where necessary, in fact, Tiffany." Thomas read some things on the computer's main screen in a suitably-sized window he clicked on here, by the way.

He soon said, "Three of them are male, and two female. However, one of the males has never gone into Lyoko, it seems. The names of the males are Jeremy, Ulrich, and Odd. The females are Yumi and Aelita, Tiffany. Jeremy is the one that never goes to Lyoko, if what he's now saying here in his message to me then is translated into English well enough, kids."

Scarlett asked, "Aelita is the one who's trapped all the time in Lyoko, Thomas?"

"That's correct. Jeremy has begun to try to create a program that might somehow be able to transfer her out of Lyoko to his own world, but he hasn't yet been able to do that well enough here, in fact, Scarlett."

"What do these other people look like, if you can tell us all this here and now, Thomas?" asked Sylvester, at least a little curious about the Lyoko Warriors.

"Yumi is a girl from Japan who often dresses in black. She uses fans when fighting in Lyoko, and wears sort of a geisha outfit when doing that. Ulrich dresses mainly in green and khaki in the real world, and fights with a katana in some sort of samurai-style fighting outfit, I believe. Odd generally dresses in purple and orange both in the real world and in Lyoko, and he has sort of a cat-like appearance in Lyoko. Aelita mainly wears pink and white, and she has sort of an elf-like appearance in Lyoko. Jeremy doesn't go to Lyoko, and he mainly wears blue and khaki in the real world, with a pair of round-lensed glasses."

Gawain asked, "So this Odd, what's his weapon of choice, from what Jeremy told you, Thomas?"

"Apparently, he has the capability to fire Laser Arrows at assorted enemies of the Warriors in Lyoko in order to hopefully be able to knock them out of battles there well enough, Gawain. Yumi uses her fans sort of like boomerangs to knock them out as well. Ulrich doesn't have a ranged attack, generally. He usually has to engage the Warriors' enemies up close and personal, so to speak. As for Aelita, she basically depends on the others to protect her whenever she's not in a tower, which are sort of like our mounds. If she gets hit too often or too severely, she might be deleted, therefore Lyoko would perhaps be conquered by XANA."

"Anything else, Thomas?" asked Tiffany.

"Yumi has black hair. Ulrich brown, Odd blond with a purple spot that's apparently dyed in, Jeremy blond, and Aelita pink. Other than that, it seems that Jeremy hasn't said much else, if anything else at all, yet to me about his team of Warriors and Lyoko, Tiffany."

The five Israelite Warriors conversed for a while longer with each other here, about assorted things. Whether they had anything at all to do with 'Israel' or not, they still did so fairly often, as they might then see fit to here. Even after 5 pm local time came and went here, they still did so, by the way.

Scarlett even began to sketch just what she thought the Lyoko Warriors might actually look like, either whenever they were in the real world or whenever they were in Lyoko, based on what she'd heard well enough about them from Thomas earlier. But she only did so here once she'd finished a few more sketches of all her current companions in the Computer Room and on Thomas's main computer screen well enough to suit her sufficiently enough here, in fact. Of all those other sketches, the first one that she'd just finished here was the one that she'd begun earlier of Gawain and Sylvester playing cards with each other some time before. She'd also actually done one of Tiffany aboard the Truth's Sword. As well as one of Thomas and her just before she'd unexpectedly grabbed the basketball that Gawain had blocked in the school's gym the day that she'd met all three of the boys now with her, for that matter.

It then took her about another half hour to finish her first sketch of what she thought the Lyoko Warriors looked like well enough, more or less. She sketched Yumi first, and basically drew her in a mostly black and red kimono and a pair of matching open-toed sandals. She soon put two large fans with some cherry blossoms on them in Yumi's hands as she held them with her arms X-crossed in front of her, and also put Yumi's hair in a medium-sized bun of some yet-unknown sort.

For Ulrich, she soon gave him a somewhat lean and rather determined look as he was standing alone somewhere in a moderately thick forest. She put him in such a setting with a single rather ancient-looking katana in one hand held out directly to the front of him, by the way. Even while he actually was wearing a mostly green vest over a mostly brown shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of mostly black tennis shoes. Also a mostly tan and yellow headband was on his head, for that matter. It then took her until just about 6:15 pm or so, local time, for her to finish her first sketch of what she thought Ulrich might actually look like now in his life, whether he was in the real world or in Lyoko, by the way.

For Odd, she gave him blond hair with several spikes and one medium-sized purple spot near his forehead present for it. She also gave him a pair of human ears and a pair of cat ears, as well as a pair of human arms ending in human hands and a pair of rather furred arms with retractable claws at the end of them. A purple and orange vest over a mostly light blue sweatshirt, a pair of four-leg trousers that largely matched his vest, two matching shoes, and two cat-like feet completed his current look in Scarlett's present thoughts of him. This particular sketch of Odd then took her until about 7:15 or so in the evening, local time, more or less.

After she finished working on her idea of what Odd might currently look like, she then began sketching what she thought Aelita looked like in Lyoko. She gave Aelita a mostly pink and light green outfit that basically consisted of a pink tunic, a pair of dyed green buckskin leggings, and tanned doeskin moccasins. Also, she gave Aelita mostly pink hair with silver streaks in a triple-braid setup that fell roughly to Aelita's mid-back level, more or less, at the current time in the sketch. She gave Aelita a pair of ears that resembled some sort of rather weird fusion between Terran bat-like wings and a typical rabbit's ears, but slightly more human-like, just the same. Scarlett also gave Aelita an expandable cane in one hand and a pink rose twirling in the other, to complete her current look in the sketch. It then took her until about 7:50 pm, local time, for her to finish that sketch here well enough to suit her sufficiently enough now.

The last sketch she then began to do while she was still in the Theater's Computer Room with everyone else who was then present with her was of Jeremy, by logical enough extension. She soon gave Jeremy some slightly wavy blond hair in a rather simple style that actually fell to about the middle of his neck, at most. In that same sketch, she gave him some bright blue twinkling eyes and glasses with coke-bottle-style lenses. At least for the most part, anyway. She gave him a mostly white lab coat over a mostly medium blue sweater, khaki trousers, and mostly black tennis shoes. On the sweater, she soon put at least a few computer-related items wherever she then could. And wherever she couldn't do so well enough to suit her sufficiently here, she then didn't do that at all, of course. Also sticking out of assorted pockets for the mostly white lab coat were several pens, notepads, and computer-style disks, for that matter. A mostly yellow pencil was then perched just over his left ear, as well. This particular sketch of hers then took her until about 8:15 pm or so, local time, at most, before it actually met sufficiently with her approval here. After she finished that particular sketch well enough to suit her sufficiently enough here, she then closed her rapidly-filling sketchbook and stashed away all her drawing-related supplies in her backpack again here rather quickly, in fact.

When the boys saw her begin doing so, Thomas asked, "Why are you packing up now, by any chance at all, Scarlett?"

"I have this feeling that my parents and several of my siblings will be looking for me soon, for some reason I'm not yet sure of here. So I think I'd best pack up and get out of here very soon, Thomas."

"Do you think you'll be in trouble if they don't see you soon or not, Scarlett?" asked Gawain.

"No, I don't. But they might not be happy with me if I stay out too late without enough prior notice of that sort of thing, just the same, Gawain."

"I see, Scarlett. Well, then, I suppose you'd best not take the chance that they might get upset with you if you were to stay out rather late this evening or night," said Gawain.

"I agree," said Sylvester. "By the way, I have not seen my parents away from home a great deal for at least the past few days, if I am not too mistaken about such things here, everyone. Perhaps they really tired themselves out the last time or two that they partied together with each other somewhere in the local area."

"When was the last time you remember them partying with each other like they have been known to do, based on what you know of them, Sylvester?" asked Tiffany.

"I believe it was a week ago, more or less, Tiffany." Sylvester rubbed his chin briefly, as he answered Tiffany's question here, while also evidently in deep enough thought here, in fact.

"What if they decided to stop partying like they've been known to do before, from what you've told us all of them both? What would you think about that, Sylvester?" asked Scarlett, in very short order.

"I think it actually would be a rather good thing, Scarlett, if they did so, and if they haven't already done it well enough by now. However, if they both are not actually partying any longer for a living, then they both will probably need to find some more suitable jobs to do for their respective livelihoods, you know. And my own livelihood as well, by logical enough extension here, of course. I do not really know if they both actually have any sufficiently-marketable skills that they could use in such jobs. That's supposing that they could find such jobs easily enough in the near future, for all of the obvious reasons," said Sylvester, gracing her with a still-rare grin after he finished answering her most recently-asked questions of him.

Thomas said, "I don't see any reason why you can't actually go home now, Scarlett. The same thing is true for the rest of you, for that matter. At least among those of us who aren't tied totally to 'Israel' right now, anyway, kids."

"You don't have to tell me twice, then, Thomas," said Scarlett, as she finally finished packing up all her necessary things here well enough to suit her sufficiently enough.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow in school, Scarlett, God willing?" asked Thomas.

"Sure thing, Thomas. At lunch, perhaps, if not even sooner than that, of course," said Scarlett.

"Then you may leave this place now, if you wish, Scarlett." Without another word or two, then, Scarlett did just that. And she did it with a bit of a smile on her face, for that matter. Gawain and Sylvester soon followed her out of the Theater's complex as well, and the three of them only very briefly conversed with each other a little while longer before splitting up with each other for the rest of the current night. Thomas stayed behind in the Theater's Computer Room until about 8:30 pm, local time, when Tiffany felt that it'd probably be a very good idea for him to return to his own family's residence for the rest of the current evening or night, by the way. Thomas didn't agree entirely with her, for he wanted to work on the main computer for at least a little while longer, but he eventually followed his fellow Warrior's advice here. He completely left the Theater's complex behind by 8:40 pm local time, and arrived back at his family's residence at about 9:15 at night.

Thomas then quickly got himself a rather late supper of a few chicken legs, some chocolate milk, a little bit of recently-made lasagna, and a moderately-sized piece of blueberry pie, before basically heading back to his and Silas's bedroom for the rest of the current night. He was back in his and Silas's bedroom again by 9:45 pm, and he then studied for about an hour between 10 and 11 at night. After he'd actually studied in his own part of the bedroom for about an hour, more or less, he then hurried just as quickly as he possibly could through all his usual Internet-related business, at least, before completely shutting down his desktop computer again. With that done, he soon got himself ready for bed here, of course. He was lying down in his own bed again by 11:45, and was quite soundly asleep in it again by about 12:15 or so in the morning of Tuesday, September 18, 2007, at the very latest. He wouldn't likely rise from his bed again here until at least 6:45 in the morning, in any case at all, for all of the obvious reasons.

* * *

The next chapter of this particular story will be up soon enough here, if at all possible. If you have any good enough ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, as long as they are male-female in nature, I'm quite willing to hear them, in fact. I really hope that you all might come to enjoy this story and its related series quite a bit, of course. Please read and review quite constructively, if at all possible, quite often, if and whenever you might so choose, people. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!" 


	5. Chapter Five:  Kadic Academy And Lyoko

All of the characters and the other story elements that are present in this story are entirely mine here, and are used fictitiously, unless otherwise stated. I really do hope that you'll all actually enjoy this story's fifth chapter here, of course.

And before any of you actually ask here, Jeremy's group of Warriors, among assorted others, will now be in this particular story as well! They'll all be in it in a physical sense, at least, for that matter, people. That is all. Now on with the story!

* * *

Chapter Five: Kadic Academy And Lyoko

Meanwhile, as Thomas was just getting quite soundly to sleep in his own bed, Jeremy Belpois was just beginning his own day, at that very time. In France, where Jeremy now was, it was just about 7:15 in the morning, local time. Jeremy was gathering his chosen clothes for the day up in his single dorm room at Kadic Academy, in fact.

A few minutes later, at most, then, Jeremy went into the shower room on his floor for Hopper Hall, one of the dormitories on the Kadic Academy campus. He took only about five minutes or so in order to take his shower and get dressed in a blue sweater and a pair of his usual khakis over a pair of business-style black shoes, before leaving that shower room again here. After he did, he soon went to get himself some breakfast in the school's main cafeteria area, for the obvious reasons here.

By the time that he got there well enough, about five minutes or so after he left the shower room again, Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robbia, among many other students between roughly 12 and 18 years old there, were already gladly consuming their respective breakfasts or nearly so. And when he did, he was also lugging around a mostly black and navy blue backpack with a moderately-sized laptop inside of it, for that matter. It was a Gateway-brand computer with all the latest available programs and perhaps several quite useful functions on or in it. Or at least many, if not most or all, of them, anyway. He soon set it on his, Ulrich, and Odd's table quite next to his plate, by the way, just as soon as he then could do that there.

Odd greeted him first, and asked him, "What's up, Einstein?"

"Nothing much, at least at the moment, Odd. I just woke up a little while ago, and got out of the shower not too long after that. Then I came here for breakfast, of course."

Ulrich said, "Well, then, Jeremy, good morning."

"The same to you, I hope, Ulrich," said Jeremy, as he began to consume his own breakfast. He had received some raisin bran, grape jelly-covered toast, orange juice, white milk, and some eggs for breakfast, at his own request, from the school's cafeteria personnel, in fact.

For about fifteen or so minutes, then, he had his breakfast in the school's main cafeteria area, before he really said much more to his friends Odd and Ulrich. After he finished having his breakfast as he so desired to have it now, he took his dirty dishes, et cetera, to the necessary places elsewhere in the main cafeteria rather briefly. That done, he returned almost instantly to his table in it.

He took out his laptop and turned it on, and began to use assorted applications on it as he then saw fit to. He even read some of his still-unread electronic mail that had come in since he'd gone to bed the night before. Including at least one message from Thomas, in fact.

He perused it, and marked it for further attention, if and whenever possible, in the near future. However, he chose not to reveal its contents to Odd or Ulrich, for he didn't know yet if it might prove sufficiently useful to the Lyoko Warriors in the near future.

For a while, then, until about 8:10 in the morning, local time, Jeremy worked quietly on his laptop, doing whatever came to his mind there as he did so. He even kept an eye out, so to speak, for any potential trouble from XANA, in fact.

Jeremy had discovered the existences of XANA, Lyoko, and Aelita no more than about two or so weeks before, on the Saturday just before school started at Kadic Academy. He had been just walking for a while in the area of Kadic, when he'd come upon an abandoned factory all of a sudden. He explored the factory alone to at least some degree, if not totally, as if he'd unconsciously been drawn to it. Others had as well, for that matter, without actually realizing it at first, though they all did so later, by the way.

Those others had been Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd, of course. Jeremy had then quickly been drawn to the main computer, and the others to the elevator shaft that would take them to the Scanner Room. Not too many more minutes later, then, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd eventually found themselves in Lyoko. Specifically in the Desert sector, in fact. Where they eventually encountered Aelita and many of XANA's monsters. Soon afterward, Yumi and the others that had just come with her to Lyoko had to fight those monsters and try to protect Aelita from them. It wasn't an easy battle for them, at least at first, due to their complete inexperience with being in Lyoko, but eventually they got Aelita to a tower somewhere in that sector of Lyoko. And Jeremy had then initiated a Return To The Past for the very first time.

Some time later, after several battles in assorted sectors of Lyoko, XANA and the Lyoko Warriors were sort of at a standstill at the current time. Just how long that standstill might last was yet to be seen, however. There had been no battles with XANA in Lyoko for about four days, more or less, so the Lyoko Warriors were generally expecting XANA to launch another attack sometime in the next few days, at the very most.

Around 8:10 or so in the morning, then, Yumi showed up on Kadic Academy's campus as needed, of course. And this time, as she did so, she was wearing a mostly black sweatshirt with red and yellow trim, as well as pairs of mostly-matching multiple-pocketed jeans and high-cut black lace-up boots with one-inch flat heels. Her hair was in its usual style, quite naturally enough.

She soon joined up with Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremy, at least for a little while, as they all began to head to their first classes of the day, in fact. Yumi and the boys then with her here made a little bit of small talk with each other as they did so, for that matter. Eventually, though, they had to split up for at least a little while from each other. Yumi and Odd went to the same science class, while Ulrich went to a history class, and Jeremy to an art class.

They periodically saw each other during the day, quite obviously enough. But they still weren't actually able to all rejoin each other until their lunch period arrived for them all. That happened at about 12:15 in the afternoon for them all, by the way, more or less.

After they were able to rejoin each other again, they met up with each other in the school's main cafeteria area, and began having their respective lunches with each other there. Yumi had ramen noodles, among other things, for her lunch in a small cooler. For she often had to bring stuff from home to have it for lunch whenever she was actually on Kadic's campus, quite obviously enough. She wasn't actually part of the school's lunch program, so she often had to bring her own lunch with her whenever she came to school there.

Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich, on the other hand, weren't necessarily forced to do that, since they lived on the Kadic Academy's campus. On the current school day, their lunches consisted of lasagna, cherry pie, milk, and garlic bread, among several other things. As they consumed them, they also periodically talked to each other, of course. Jeremy then did so the least of all three boys, simply because he was basically thinking at least a little bit about what kinds of vehicles his friends hopefully could use to get around Lyoko, and at least a little bit about kinds of vehicles that Thomas's friends could perhaps use in 'Israel,' for that matter.

Yumi suddenly interrupted Jeremy's current train of thought by unexpectedly squeezing his hand as he was taking a bite of some lasagna and making a few keystrokes on his nearby laptop. She asked him, "What's on your mind, Jeremy, if I might ask?"

"I'm thinking of vehicles for Lyoko and for an online contact of mine elsewhere, Yumi. I'm also trying to keep an eye on Lyoko, just in case XANA might have something rather unexpected in mind in the very near future, for that matter. Among other things, of course."

Odd commented, "XANA hasn't tried anything for a while, it seems, Jeremy."

"Yes, I know. And that is starting to concern me at least a little bit, of course, Odd," said Jeremy, a few brief moments later, after first finishing the rest of his lasagna. It isn't often like XANA to not attack for more than a few days, if I remember things well enough here."

"Well, since he's not done so for a while, what do you think he's been planning, Jeremy?" asked Ulrich, after finishing the last bits of his own lunch.

"Something big, whatever it might be, I figure. And I think we'll need some vehicles ready for use by the time that he does so, for it seems to me that Aelita is detecting the presence of more towers and more territory every so often in Lyoko. If that's so, we might all have much more virtual area to cover in it, for various reasons."

"I don't understand, Jeremy," said Odd. "I thought that there were only limited areas of territory and numbers of towers present in Lyoko, from what you told all of us earlier." Odd finished the rest of his own lunch as well, as he said those things, in fact.

"I was wrong, Odd. So very wrong, it seems. And now it seems that your jobs are going to be much more difficult to handle in Lyoko than we originally expected them to be. I might be able to get you each some vehicles, at least, in the near future. But I might not actually be able to upgrade each of the various powers related to you all for at least a little while, if not a long while, easily enough."

"What's that mean for me, for instance?" asked Yumi, as she finished the rest of her own lunch here.

"You're not likely going to be able to be stronger, Lyoko-wise, for at least a little while, other than the fact that you'd have some kind of vehicle of your own, I think, Yumi." Jeremy finished his own lunch not very long after he then said that to her, in fact.

As they all began taking all their dirty dishes and things where they then needed to be in the school's main cafeteria, they all conversed only for a little while longer, at most, with each other. For their lunch period was about to end officially, by the way. A few or so minutes later, then, they all split up as needed here, for the obvious reasons.

They soon went to their next class periods, of course. And the rest of the school day went reasonably well for them all. At least for the most part, anyway. Two or so minutes after school officially ended for them on the current day, at most, then, XANA suddenly woke up again. Aelita, quite naturally enough, was the first to learn that, for the obvious reasons here. She learned this after she detected some activity in the Mountain sector, while she was searching for information that Jeremy might hopefully find useful enough in his attempt to design some vehicles for the other Lyoko Warriors, by the way.

She detected it when a window of a sort suddenly appeared on the screen above the touchpad that she was then using in one of the Ice sector's towers, for that matter. Aelita then immediately opened that window to its maximum possible size, before paging Jeremy as needed. Two minutes later, at most, then, Jeremy, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd were on their ways to the factory, of course.

Several minutes later, Jeremy was already behind the main computer's screen, and the other three kids were already on their ways to Lyoko. While they were all heading to the necessary locations in the factory or in Lyoko, Aelita suddenly dove off the platform that she'd just been on inside the aforementioned Ice tower, and in the general direction of the nearest Mountain sector tower to the Ice sector one that she'd just been inside. A few moments later, at most, then, Aelita arrived on the necessary interior platform for that tower in the Mountain sector. She then waited at least a few moments, if not even longer than that, to actually emerge from it here. For Jeremy had rather suddenly detected the unexpected presence of several Crabs, Roaches, and Blocks quite near it. And the others hadn't yet materialized in that part of Lyoko easily enough, for that matter.

She only emerged from that tower again once the other three Lyoko Warriors materialized well enough near it, and once Jeremy gave her the all-clear to do so, of course. A little while later, then, several Crabs, Roaches, and Blocks were eliminated as needed, and Aelita's group soon set off toward yet another tower elsewhere in the Mountain sector.

As they were heading toward that same tower, several Crabs and Roaches periodically sniped at them, trying to buy some time for assorted Blocks and Megatanks to lay an excellent ambush near the activated tower quite some distance away from where Aelita had joined up with the rest of her current fighting group. Obviously enough, all four of them periodically took some hits from assorted monsters. But not too many hits, and not strong enough hits to de-virtualize any or all of them yet. At least not until they were within a few hundred virtual yards of the activated tower, anyway. When they were all close enough to the tower, then, the hidden Blocks and Megatanks finally revealed themselves well enough, Yumi was the first to be knocked out of Lyoko, just as she was about to delete a few Roaches with her fans. Odd was the next to be knocked out, about a minute or two after Yumi was. Ulrich lasted about five minutes longer than Odd, but he eventually was knocked out as well. That soon left Aelita alone against several Blocks and Megatanks. She rather unexpectedly then found herself in the approximate middle of a considerably large circle that was just about fifty or so feet away from the nearest part of the tower. She rather quickly tried to think up a suitable enough defense. And a quite strange idea flashed into her virtual head, all of a sudden, with no prompting from anyone mortal. She pretended to fall asleep, which drew the attentions of several of her virtual enemies, almost immediately afterward, here, in fact.

They and several others soon began to creep ever closer and closer to her here as she still kept up this quite-pretend sleep of hers. When many of them were then within ten virtual feet of her, at the nearest extent, she suddenly flashed open her eyes, and leapt up in the air just as far as she could propel herself into it. The various Blocks and Megatanks couldn't actually react fast enough to her rather sudden leap into the air here, for that matter. Even as they all attempted to fire right at her, and even as their various blasts began hitting each other, either directly or indirectly, as they all then tried to delete her. She even bounced on several of them as she sought to get to the tower well enough, in fact. That helped her gain even more altitude, somehow, by the way. Several bounces later, at most, then, she rather easily ended up just outside the required tower, and mostly behind a still-large rock wall near it. All but a few Blocks were no longer present in the immediate vicinity of the tower, then, at that particular time, simply due to the quite-unexpected things that she'd just done here near them all. Before they could all re-aim at her well enough, she phased herself into that same tower, and quickly did the usual keystrokes that she'd have to do in order to turn off a tower in Lyoko, quite naturally enough. A few seconds later, at most, then, Jeremy engaged a Return To The Past, as he normally would do right after a XANA attack. The usual white light bubble quickly appeared, and it, very soon afterward, quite completely enveloped the necessary area in and around the factory and Kadic Academy, of course.

Not too long afterward, then, Jeremy Belpois and his four Lyoko-associated friends were all back just where and when they'd each been a full day before. At least for the most part, if not entirely, anyway. This, quite naturally enough, was the case for them all here, in fact.

* * *

When the previously-experienced day then began again for Jeremy and the rest of his Lyoko-associated friends here, the day went exactly as it had already gone for them all. At least up to the required time of day right after school, anyway. However, at the exact time XANA had launched his most recent attack in Lyoko, another attack didn't actually materialize for him or any of the other four Lyoko Warriors. And it hopefully wouldn't, either, for at least a little while longer, if not a great while longer. At least as far as they were all sufficiently enough concerned here, anyway.

Instead of having to deal with another attack at the same time of day as they'd just experienced on their first run-through of Tuesday, September 18, 2007, they all eventually parted from each other, where necessary and/or desired. Yumi, for instance, went back home again. While Ulrich went to the gym to practice some Pencak Silat by himself, Odd to his and Ulrich's room to play some music, and Jeremy to his own room to work more on potential ideas for use in Lyoko, after a brief stop in the school's library area.

Jeremy spent most of the afternoon and evening, at least, working on his desktop computer in his room, except for a little while during the evening meal. He ate his supper at about 7:30 pm, local time, and returned to his room again at about 8 pm or so, for that matter. He then mainly worked for about another two or so hours on his desktop computer before closing it down, just before Jim would make his nightly rounds on Jeremy's floor of Hopper Hall. Jeremy didn't want Jim to catch him working on Lyoko-related things, of course. So he shut it down about five minutes before Jim would check in on him, in fact.

Aelita really didn't want him to go off-line for the rest of the night, at that time, when he did so. But Jeremy told her that if Jim caught him working on Lyoko-related things, it might not bode well for Lyoko, for various reasons that might or might not be too numerous to mention in sufficient enough detail at the current time here. So she rather reluctantly let him go off-line, even though she really didn't want him to here.

No more than five minutes after Jeremy's desktop shut down as needed, and desired, Jim checked up on Jeremy here. Jeremy was already in bed by that time, fully ready for bed as needed or desired, in fact. Minutes later, at most, Jim left Jeremy's room behind again, and continued on his rounds elsewhere on Jeremy's floor.

After Jeremy was quite sure that Jim wouldn't be back for the rest of the night, then, he suddenly reached under his bed's mattress. And he soon afterward pulled out his laptop from a secret recess under it. He often hid it there, in fact, whenever he thought the need might arise for him to do that at all. A few minutes later, with the sound completely turned off for it, for the obvious reasons, Jeremy was already in the process of drafting at least the start of another electronic message, if not an entire message of that particular nature instead, that was to be addressed most specifically to Thomas.

The main subjects of said electronic message were the assorted prototypical vehicles that Thomas and Tiffany, among at least one or two others, had only just recently begun work on creating, in fact. Jeremy wrote rather quietly for at least a little while as he then lay mainly on his stomach in his own bed, before eventually starting to feel the first signs of fatigue and sleep coming to him. He quickly saved what he then had for that very same message, intending to work more on it later, of course. That done, he began doing whatever he then had to do here, before he got too tired to do it consciously enough, for the obvious reasons. No matter what it might actually be, he still did all those things, quite naturally enough.

He finished doing all of those things well enough by nearly midnight, local time. And by the time that Tuesday, September 18, 2007, became Wednesday, September 19, 2007, for him, he was quite soundly asleep again in his own bed, for that matter. He wouldn't arise from his bed again, most likely, until the usual time of awakening for him, of course, by the way.

It then took Jeremy just about two or so days, more or less, to actually finish composing the electronic message that he'd most recently drafted to Thomas well enough. After it eventually met quite sufficiently enough with his approval here, somehow, he then sent it off, just as soon as he possibly could, on the following day. And he really hoped that what he'd then said in it would prove most useful indeed to Thomas and/or the rest of his still-small group of Israelite Warriors of a sort, of course. That, and he also really hoped for a reasonably quick and reasonably good reply to that very same message, for that matter.

He didn't happen to receive a direct response to it at least until the late evening of Friday, September 28, 2007, Paris time. For Thomas hadn't actually been able to attend to enough of his other electronic messages to get to it before then quite well enough. A heavy backlog of messages had unexpectedly developed in the intervening time, when Thomas hadn't been able to access enough of his messages sent to one of his mail accounts quickly enough, for whatever reason or reasons such a backlog had earlier developed for him then. It'd taken him several days to clear that backlog well enough to get to Jeremy's most recent message to him, in fact.

Eventually, Thomas had replied, and he'd thought that many of Jeremy's ideas were quite good, in terms of the mainly vehicle-related suggestions that Jeremy had then made in the sufficiently-related message to him here. Thomas had thought that many of those very same ideas had definite potential for quite effective use by the Israelite Warriors, by the way. Such as the idea of perhaps having Sylvester's prototype periodically have the capability to shoot out ropes of whatever kind or kinds towards any number of enemies whenever he had it in a racecar mode, for instance.

Jeremy had suggested that some of those slots that were now present for Sylvester's prototypical vehicle be periodically used for rope storage and/or deployment. And Thomas thought that was a rather good idea, by the way. At least for the most part, if not entirely, in fact. So Thomas decided to follow Jeremy's advice in that regard, at least, if not in any other regard, as it pertained well enough to Sylvester's prototypical vehicle here.

For Scarlett's prototypical vehicle, Jeremy had also thought the use of a locomotive-style vehicle was rather interesting. He came up with some ideas on how to make sure it was able to better protect Scarlett and anyone else who might ever be aboard it at any time, if they were friendly enough to the Israelite Warriors, as well. He thought up some ideas that were mainly related to the defensive systems aboard it, including the potentially frequent use of some multi-phasic shields, if and whenever possible. At least for its locomotive mode, if not also for its roller skates-related mode as well, for that matter. And those very same shields could then perhaps be of somewhat-varying types, up to perhaps three or four levels, at the very start of its career in Israel, at most.

As for Gawain's prototypical vehicle, Jeremy mainly concentrated on suggesting ideas that might help Gawain whenever it was in its mini-tank form. He suggested ideas about how it could get about the various parts of Israel that weren't water-related, even going so far as to suggest the periodic and possible use of hovercraft-type or aircraft-type virtual technology, so that if the Israelite Warriors ever had to fight in the air to a sufficient enough degree, Gawain would be able to do so as well, somehow.

Several, if not many or most, of the ideas that Jeremy had actually suggested to Thomas, at least, weren't currently feasible enough for the Israelite Warriors' use, for whatever reason or reasons. However, at least some of them might eventually prove to be feasible enough for them in the future, somehow. But only once all the necessary technology was developed, or all the necessary technologies were developed, by the necessary person or persons elsewhere in the real world or the virtual world, of course. Just not at this time would such ideas of Jeremy's work well enough for the Israelite Warriors, in fact.

When Thomas's message eventually arrived, and Jeremy was able to see it well enough, Jeremy looked it over, and began thinking of a suitable enough reply to it. But he didn't start drafting it yet, for his studies were currently a higher priority on his list at the moment than such a reply was for him. Jeremy studied for at least a little while after checking out that message well enough, before finally retiring to his own bed again for the rest of the night and the early morning, in fact.

The next few days, at least, were basically rather peaceful in their respective natures for Jeremy and the rest of the Warriors, for no more attacks came their way due to XANA's actions. Either in Lyoko or in the real world, for that matter.

As they waited for XANA's next attack, wherever it might be, the Lyoko-associated Warriors got more familiar with each other, both inside and outside of Lyoko, if and whenever possible. Of course, Aelita was still confined to Lyoko, for the obvious reasons. But they had finally been able to create and practice using certain vehicles that Aelita and Jeremy had designed for the Warriors' periodical use in Lyoko. At least when it came to Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita, anyway. Jeremy still hadn't been to Lyoko at all, in actual reality, though.

While they were all waiting for XANA's next attack, then, Jeremy had the other Lyoko Warriors train for a while with each other in Lyoko, if and whenever possible. It might not have been at least as much as he might have preferred for them all, but he still had them all do so. Especially Aelita, for the obvious reasons.

He had them all then train against each other and against assorted simulated versions of the various XANA-created monsters that they'd all fought against at least once before while in Lyoko. Jeremy didn't have them only train in one sector, but in all four then-known sectors of Lyoko. Those sectors were, of course, the Ice, Desert, Mountain, and Forest sectors for Lyoko. He had them do so in that specific order that repeated as needed while they were all waiting for XANA's next attack or attacks, by the way. Even on the weekends, he still had them do so, if and whenever possible and desired or needed for the five Lyoko Warriors, in fact.

This continued to be the case for all five of them from the early morning of Saturday, September 29, 2007, to the early morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, at least. But at about 5:30 in the morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, Paris time, XANA finally launched another attack. He suddenly activated a rather hard-to-reach tower at one of the Ice sector's outermost edges in Lyoko, and also attacked a library not far from Kadic Academy's campus in the real world.

That, of course, forced the Warriors to split up, for the obvious reasons. Odd and Yumi went to Lyoko to battle XANA's monsters there with Aelita, while Ulrich and Jeremy stayed behind to try to battle against XANA's monsters in or around the aforementioned library in the real world. Jeremy told Yumi how to set a timer for her and Odd to get to Lyoko, before they all split up with each other as needed. For Jeremy wouldn't be able to help her and Odd get there otherwise. One of Jeremy's close friends often worked at that library very early in the morning, and Jeremy wanted to try to help protect him, if and wherever possible, for that matter.

So Yumi and Odd went to Lyoko, and Jeremy and Ulrich stayed in the real world. Jeremy gathered up some things that he'd been working on since XANA's most recent attack in Lyoko, and he hoped they would be quite useful while he and Ulrich tried to battle XANA's monsters in the real world, whatever they might be.

When Ulrich and Jeremy arrived quite near the library in question, a good deal of damage had already been done in or around it. At least several dozen law enforcement personnel and/or soldiers were battling against those monsters with little, if any, success. No fatalities had yet resulted, if they would, but that might not remain the case if things continued as they were now going there.

Ulrich and Jeremy soon saw that they wouldn't be able to reach the assorted Crabs, Blocks, and Megatanks easily enough without being seen by the aforementioned people, most likely. So Jeremy sat tight behind several large bushes with Ulrich as he tried to find another way for them both to get where the trouble was well enough, of course. It took him about another five or so minutes after they'd hidden themselves behind those same large bushes to come up with such a way, at most. He came up with the idea that they might be able to sneak into the library by use of an old underground maintenance tunnel that wasn't on any of the currently-official local infrastructure maps, but that still had been marked on a map by someone with definite ties to Lyoko, in fact. That then became quite evident to Jeremy after he'd actually seen a rather rough representation of a unknown tower somewhere in Lyoko on his laptop's screen, placed in the approximate middle of the map's legend key, by the way.

Two minutes or so later, then, and without any mortal being other than them who was sufficiently near the library knowing it well enough, Jeremy and Ulrich accessed that particular tunnel, which was moderately-lit, at most. And they began heading as they then needed to in it, of course. They both proceeded together down that tunnel with Ulrich in the rear, for defensive purposes, until Jeremy soon brought them to a largely-painted brick wall. On that very same brick wall, there was a rather good-sized mural that included two medieval knights in it, directly facing each other, while they were both on two appropriately-sized horses. Jeremy studied that very mural for a few brief moments, and then he quite suddenly said, "We have to find a particular brick that will allow us to access the rest of the tunnel, Ulrich. I'm not sure which one it is, though."

"Can't your laptop tell you exactly which one it is right now, Jeremy?" asked Ulrich, wondering how they were both actually going to be able to get to where they needed to go easily enough.

"No, I'm afraid not. Help me try to find it, please, Ulrich." Jeremy stowed away his laptop again, in very short order, and then he began to try to find that brick. He started near one side, and had Ulrich start by the other. They both ran all their fingers over the numerous bricks looking for the certain one they then needed to find, as much as they both could here. It took them both roughly fifteen minutes, more or less, to find it, and they both found it at the exact same instant just about two feet above the approximate center of the mural, and exactly halfway between the two knights' fully-extended lances in it.

That particular brick was about eight inches long, about four inches high, and about six inches wide, after they both pulled it almost completely out of the wall in front of them. The mural then split right in half, with half of it going to their left, and half to their right. Jeremy and Ulrich then took the rather heavy brick of painted gold with them at least long enough for them both to hold it in the proper place on the other side of the wall for at least a few seconds more. They both held it right in place until the wall then required them to relinquish their mutual hold on it here. Before it did, they located two helmets with lamps attached to them both. They donned them both in very short order, while also turning their respective lights on as needed, of course. For they really didn't want to both be moving completely in the dark down the rest of the necessary tunnel here, for all the obvious reasons.

Five minutes after the wall closed completely behind them again in the tunnel, they both came to part of the library's ventilation system, and entered one of its many air ducts. They both did that once Jeremy had somehow learned just which one they'd have to go through in order to get to the necessary XANA-released monsters in and around the library, in fact. It then took them another five to ten minutes for them to get to the end of that particular air duct, more or less. For Jeremy was really trying to also make quite sure that XANA couldn't actually find them easily enough here and now, somehow. XANA had caused at least a few problems for all of the non-Lyoko-confined Warriors before, when they'd each actually been in their respective civilian states of being. So Jeremy was trying to make sure that sort of thing wouldn't happen again for them here, by the way.

When they eventually were able to get to the end of that duct, both of them then looked out from behind a grate near the floor in one part of the library. Jeremy soon asked, "Ulrich, do you have something that could loosen this grate, by any chance?"

"No, I don't, it seems," answered Ulrich, after first checking for a few brief moments to try and see if he could move the grate at least a little bit. He had absolutely no success in that particular regard here, for the way to open it was on the other side of the grate, in fact. "But I wonder if a custodian might have something that could open this grate well enough, Jeremy."

"They just might. I think I know just the person. Let me see if I can reach them on my mobile phone, then, Ulrich."

Ulrich kept an eye on the happenings in the nearest part of the library to them, as Jeremy dug briefly in his backpack here, of course. He soon said, "You'd better hurry up about it, for there is a Crab trying to hit several other people with their lasers right now, Jeremy. And they're running out of cover, it seems. They're hiding amidst the shelves and the Crab is trying to get at them by taking out the shelves either with their legs or their lasers."

"Understood, Ulrich." Ten seconds or so later, Jeremy found his mobile phone and quickly tapped out a certain number on it. After he got a response back from the person he just called, he soon said, "Ulrich, help should be on the way very soon, in fact. That other friend of mine here won't be alone, either, when he comes to help us, by the way."

"Good. But they'd still best hurry, just the same. Another shelf just got demolished by the Crab, in both ways, for your information, Jeremy," said Ulrich, all of a sudden, as he tried to budge the grate yet again here, in fact.

"The others are still trying to run for cover, are they not, Ulrich?"

"Of course, Jeremy. If I could just get out of here, I could perhaps grab up something and use it against the Crab and any other monster in and around the library, you know."

"But we're still stuck in here. So we'll have to get ready for action in the meantime. I have a few ideas that might just work out here. But I'll still need someone to cover me, if at all possible, you know, Ulrich."

"Of course you will. I'll do what I can for you, for as long as I can. I hope the others are having better success in Lyoko, however, Jeremy."

"So do I, Ulrich. Believe me, so do I."

* * *

At that very instant, Yumi was throwing her fans at several Roaches and Blocks that were firing at her and Aelita as they were then riding on Yumi's Overwing. She had switched places on it with Aelita briefly, in order to do that, so Aelita was temporarily holding onto its handlebars, and making it do a Immelman turn as Yumi launched her fans at those Roaches and Blocks. After Yumi sent her fans towards them, she again switched places with Aelita, and did a U-turn in the air, so that she was again going in the same direction that they'd been going in before the use of the Immelman turn by Aelita. But with about 3,300 feet more of virtual altitude above the nearest part of the virtual Ice surface below them than they'd had about a minute or two before, by the way.

Several seconds later, Yumi and Aelita were again next to Odd as he was wildly looping around several nearby virtual ice bridges while earnestly trying to dodge some laser blasts as well from other nearby Roaches and Blocks. Even as he was doing that rather unpredictable looping here, he really was trying not to waste his Arrows, for he was getting low on them at the moment. And he really didn't know just how soon, if at all, he might be able to have them reloaded during their current battle in Lyoko, for all the obvious reasons.

For about fifteen or so more minutes, then, the three Lyoko Warriors each did whatever they possibly could in the battle, no matter what it was. They each were periodically hit, or at least grazed, with several XANA-created monsters' shots, by the way. But not hit well enough or often enough to knock them out of the fight well enough, even for just a few seconds at the very least.

They eventually were all able to knock out all the necessary remaining monsters in the specific part of the Ice sector they were now in with each other. But they still couldn't somehow de-activate the tower just yet, once Aelita and her current companions entered that particular tower together. For XANA had planned ahead before finally launching his latest attacks on Lyoko and the real world, in fact. He had put a multi-level puzzle of sorts in the specific computer file that was currently handling the double attack that he'd just launched not too long before the present time. And it'd perhaps require Jeremy to solve the puzzle somehow before XANA's attack could then be defeated well enough here, for that matter.

They all had done their parts as best as they each then could do them here, but they'd still have to wait for some more help from Jeremy before they each could either leave Lyoko or de-activate that tower they were now in. They all really hoped it wouldn't take him too long at all here to be able to solve that puzzle, for the obvious reasons, of course.

* * *

As they began waiting for help in de-activating the tower from Jeremy, then, Ulrich and Jeremy were in the process of battling several XANA-created monsters in the real world. A few of Jeremy's friends from the library's staff had finally been able to remove the grate that'd blocked their ways into the part of the library where several of those monsters then were. And both of them climbed out of the air duct in very short order. Ulrich grabbed up whatever he could then get his hands on, no matter what it was. He even picked up several pieces of broken and blasted shelves, for that matter. And he began charging at several of the monsters, often using those things almost like swords, if not exactly like them. Several Blocks soon exploded under his attacks against them. As did at least one Crab, by the way.

However, the Megatanks were another story, once Ulrich found himself having to battle them as well at least once, if not more than that. Especially whenever they tried to get at Jeremy, as Jeremy himself also attempted to fight them however he then could here.

Jeremy periodically threw assorted things at the monsters as well, if and whenever needed. But he mainly tried to defeat them through the use of his laptop, just the same. Jeremy eventually was able to learn that they were each getting signals from XANA under different frequencies for each monster type. He then used that information to send sonic pulses at various frequencies toward any XANA-created monsters he could send them towards in or around the library. One monster type at a time, he did so, as Ulrich still continued to protect him and others then in the library to the best of his current ability to do so. First Jeremy did so with the currently-present Megatanks. Then the Crabs, and finally the Blocks. After each monster type was knocked out and defeated as needed, he moved to the next type of monster then present in or around the library's grounds. Finally, the last monster present in or around those grounds was eliminated as needed here.

After they were, then, Ulrich and Jeremy began checking to see if there were actually any fatalities in or around any part of the library or its grounds. Fortunately enough, there were none of any kinds wherever they went to check those people out. Several people, at least, though, were hurt, for the obvious reasons. But none of them were actually killed, just the same.

After they somehow learned this at least well enough to suit them both sufficiently here, Jeremy and Ulrich soon had Jeremy's friends secure the applicable grate back up behind them as they re-entered the necessary air duct. After that happened, Jeremy and Ulrich both went back to the necessary wall in the tunnel they'd earlier gone through here, just as quickly as they then could. When they got to that wall, they removed the required brick again, and the wall opened up as it had done once before for them both. Then they went back to the other side of it, and replaced that same brick in the needed place, of course. Then they both set off for the factory just as quickly as they possibly could, for the obvious reasons.

They both arrived at the factory by 7:05 in the morning, Paris time, and Jeremy found a real problem for him to deal with. That being the puzzle that XANA had left for him to try to figure out in order to allow Aelita to de-activate the activated tower, of course. Jeremy got right to work on trying to solve it, and had the main computer do the same, as well. He soon said, "Ulrich, I might be here a while. You'll have to try to think up some way to keep the rest of us out of trouble at Kadic, it seems. It might be a while before we can show up there as needed, by the way."

"I'll see what I can do. But you know Jim and Mr. Delmas, for example. They probably won't be very happy with you all if the rest of you don't show in class at all today, Jeremy."

"I understand that quite well, of course. But someone really needs to be here right now in order to try to solve this particular conundrum that XANA has just left for me to try to solve here, it seems, Ulrich. I can't actually initiate a Return To The Past otherwise, if and when Aelita is able to de-activate the necessary tower in Lyoko, for all the obvious reasons." Jeremy made some keystrokes here, on the main computer's keyboard, as he said these things to Ulrich, who was then leaning against a nearby wall in the factory's Computer Room.

"Conundrum, Jeremy?"

"A puzzle, Ulrich, in essence. XANA's evidently decided to be a real pain this time, and not just with the attacks on the real world or on Lyoko. We can't reverse time and the damage until this puzzle is solved, it seems to me, by the way."

"Or free the others, by any chance, as well, Jeremy?"

"Of course, Ulrich."

"Please try to do that as soon as you can, then, Jeremy. The sooner, the better, for the obvious reasons."

"That goes without saying, Ulrich. But I'll see what I can do, just the same. I just hope it won't take me the whole school day to do that, though. For I'm really looking forward to working later with Mrs. Hertz, for example, just so you know." Jeremy then linked his laptop in the necessary manner to the main computer here, and he did it quite easily indeed, for that matter.

"Naturally, Einstein. Naturally. You would, Jeremy."

"Oh, and by the way, the snob was looking for you late last night, Ulrich."

"What did she want, Jeremy?" The snob in question was Mr. Delmas's daughter Elizabeth, who was more commonly known as Sissi around Kadic Academy's campus, by the way.

"She wanted you, Ulrich. And she wanted to date you, at least, from what I could gather of her thoughts at that time, based on how she was acting at the time I last saw her then."

"And what did you tell her, Jeremy?"

"That you weren't available, because something had come up that'd required your undivided attention at that time, Ulrich."

"Thanks for doing that, Jeremy," Ulrich eventually said, as the current time rapidly approached 7:15 or so in the morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, Paris time, in fact.

"No problem. Now if I could just find a way to get Aelita into this world, I would be quite happy indeed, I think, Ulrich."

"Why do you want to do that?"

"Because I want to be able to meet her face-to-face, at least, of course, So to speak, anyway."

"And if she doesn't like you like you might like her, Jeremy, then what?"

"Then I'll handle things as I need to, of course, Ulrich. Wouldn't you do the same when dealing with Sissi or Yumi, for instance?" Jeremy had Ulrich pull a somewhat thick book dealing with assorted Japanese anime and/or manga series out of his backpack that Yumi had given him a few days before, and give it to him.

"Sissi, I'm not interested in at all, at least right now, if I'll ever be. Yumi, I'm not so sure about, on the other hand. I might eventually be interested in her as a potential girlfriend, but I'm not right now."

"And what do you think Yumi feels about you, then?" Jeremy began looking through that book, hoping to find some information in it that'd be needed in order to solve that puzzle that XANA had just left for him to solve, almost immediately after Ulrich handed it to him here, by the way.

"I have absolutely no idea how she might feel about me. At least in a personal enough sense, if not in any other sense as well, that is, Jeremy. Sure, we might normally get along well enough with each other at school here, but I don't really know if she actually likes me enough to perhaps ever be thinking about me as a potential boyfriend for herself sometime yet in the future. I think it would be at least a little bit more likely for her to be interested in Odd in that sort of way than for her to do the same for me, in fact."

"I don't actually agree with you about that particular sort of thing here. Or at least I don't agree with you about it right now, anyway, Ulrich. But let's continue this particular conversation of ours sometime later, if we possibly can, please. You'd best get to school before it's too late for you to do that here well enough. I'll be there with Yumi and Odd just as soon as I can, if at all possible, of course." It was now nearly 7:25 in the morning, Paris time, on the current day.

"As you wish." Ulrich soon left, for the obvious reasons.

After he left, Jeremy thought, "You're so wrong, Ulrich, about Yumi not apparently liking you at least a little bit. She hasn't told me directly, and as far as I know, she hasn't told anyone else in that way as well, but I can tell she likes you at least a little bit. You both might not realize it yet, but I think you two will fall in true love with each other. And stay in true love with each other for the rest of your lives, for that matter." He thought this for a little while, as he looked for the necessary information in the book that Ulrich had just handed him here, before turning back to the computer's main screen, and giving the puzzle his full attention again.

It then took the two linked computers about twenty or so minutes after Ulrich's departure to crack the first level of the XANA-made puzzle. But the puzzle now in question was still quite unsolved, and it probably would still be that way for at least a good while yet, if XANA could possibly keep it that way somehow. Even though XANA had no further direct control over the entire puzzle, he still had made it quite difficult indeed to solve, at least in terms of its complexity and its obscurity, if not also in any other way or ways whatsoever. Jeremy would most likely not be able to completely solve it before 11 in the morning, Paris time, at the very earliest, even with two very powerful computers working on it.

So he'd probably have to miss at least a few classes at Kadic, for all the obvious reasons. Even though he didn't really want to, if he could possibly avoid it at all somehow. Even as both of his current computers here tried to solve the remaining levels of the puzzle that XANA had left for him just recently, Jeremy spent much of his time looking for useful enough information that might help to solve it. And he also did a little studying, in terms of his schoolwork, so as not to totally be unprepared for school if and when he was actually able to get to Kadic at all during the current school day.

8 am came and went very soon, as did 9, 10, and 11, in fact. And yet, he was still present in the factory's Computer Room even as 11 am, local time, came and went. He began to get really hungry, but didn't dare leave that particular room in the factory at the present time. For he needed to be able to monitor the present situation in Lyoko well enough in Ulrich's current absence from it. He also rather reluctantly began to try to figure out what kind of story he and the other non-Lyoko-confined Warriors might all have to tell very soon in order to hopefully avoid getting into any trouble at all with Jim and Mr. Delmas, of course. Jeremy generally preferred telling people the truth, if and whenever possible, in his life. But he also still realized that, at least sometimes, certain things might have to be shrouded in any number of lies in order to hopefully better protect any number of people from unnecessary harm. He didn't actually have to like that sort of thing, quite obviously enough. But he still realized such a thing might periodically be necessary for his own good and the own goods of so many others, just the same, in his life.

Ulrich returned to the factory's Computer Room only during the usual lunch period. And he'd somehow actually sneaked several food and drink-type items covered, as had then been necessary, by him out of the school's main cafeteria area for Jeremy, at least, to have. All while there was actually a rather heated food fight going on between any number of students there at that time, for that matter. Jim and several other school staff members had been so busy trying to break up the food fight, that they never noticed Ulrich's sneaking out with those items for Jeremy, at least. While they were, Ulrich hurried away from Kadic Academy's grounds and headed for the nearest possible place where he could get underground well enough en route to the factory, whatever it then might be here.

Ulrich ran like the wind, so to speak, to that place, and was underground no more than ten seconds after reaching it. Minutes later, and much faster than usual, he was then in the factory's Computer Room again. As soon as he was well enough into it, he began unloading his stash of swiped food and drink items on top of a large table, no matter what they were.

Jeremy eventually saw him do so here. And just as soon as he did, he quite suddenly hurried over, digging almost immediately into several of those items as he then saw fit to here. Jeremy was, by now, very hungry indeed. Ulrich then saw Jeremy dig in quite uncharacteristically indeed, for Jeremy hadn't actually had a good deal to eat, if anything, since the evening meal the previous day.

"Jeremy, you're eating like Odd, it seems."

"I'm very hungry, Ulrich." Ulrich suddenly moved to the two linked computers for a little while here, even while Jeremy was still consuming any number of food and drink items in the factory's Computer Room.

"Well, if you eat or drink everything I've brought just now, then the others won't be able to have anything to eat or drink as well."

"Perhaps you're right." Jeremy slowed up his eating and drinking here, and eventually stopped doing so, just as soon as he felt he could eat or drink no more at the present time. About two-thirds of the just-brought food and drink items were still left by the time that happened for Jeremy, in fact. "It's just that I hadn't been able to have breakfast this morning, you know."

"Well, neither did I, and the same thing was true for Yumi and Odd, of course."

"No doubt. How did you manage to get all these food and drink items out of the cafeteria, by any chance, without getting caught?"

"Some students started a food fight when they got into a bit of a disagreement with each other. Only a few rather brief moments later, the food and drink started flying all over the cafeteria. And eventually, many of the other people in the applicable cafeteria area found themselves involved in it. Even Sissi suddenly did, without any prior warning to her or anyone else, by the way. A coconut pie covered with whipped cream had eventually hit her in the face when Theo was aiming at Herb. She quite unexpectedly walked into it, while heading for seconds on her assorted food and drink items, and really didn't like being splattered with that pie, so she joined the food fight, of course. After Sissi got hit, it really got wacky. Sissi quite quickly grabbed up a whole table's worth, essentially, of honey, grapes, and assorted other items, and began sending them at whatever people she then could. That gave me enough of an opportunity to swipe all the things I just swiped for you all here, in fact."

"And do you know how things might turn out yet?"

"I presume there will be a lot of detention assigned to the fight's students, especially to those that started it, of course."

"I'd think so too, Ulrich. What have the teachers and administration thought about our absences from school today, by any chance?"

"They've been wondering where the rest of you have been, of course, Jeremy."

"And what did you tell them?"

"I told them that you were captured by aliens, in fact."

"Oh, boy. That's going to be hard to back up, I think."

"How so?"

"Do you know any aliens that might have abducted us easily enough right now?"

"No, I suppose not. But I had to think of something, you know."

"Now they're going to want proof of it, Ulrich, before they let us get away with missing so much school today, at least. Just where I'm going to be able to dig up that supposed proof, and how, I'll have to try to figure out, of course."

"You're the Brain Man of our group, Jeremy."

"That may be so, but that still doesn't actually mean that I'll be able to come up with that supposed proof somehow, you know, Ulrich."

"Why not create pictures that show us supposedly being captured by them, even if it didn't actually happen, Jeremy? At least as of yet, anyway?"

"I suppose I could, but this doesn't really feel right to me. At least not at this time, anyway."

"Well, if you can't think of something, they might somehow eventually find out about Lyoko, you know, Jeremy. And we can't let them do that, if at all possible, for all the obvious reasons," said Ulrich, as he moved back off Jeremy's seat behind the main computer again. "Level 4 of the puzzle solved and decrypted. Now beginning decryption of level 5," he read, just as he was leaving Jeremy's chair here again.

Jeremy soon sat back down in his chair, and said, "I wonder if it might help a little bit if I sent you to Lyoko as well for a while, Ulrich."

"I really must advise against it, for the obvious reasons," said Ulrich.

Just then, Aelita suddenly popped up on Jeremy's main computer screen. She said, "Jeremy, Yumi and Odd are getting very hungry and thirsty right now, according to them both, in the activated tower."

"Put them on, one at a time, please, Aelita."

"As you wish, Brain Man." Aelita left the screen, and was almost instantly replaced by Yumi on it.

Yumi then said, "Jeremy, I hope you can get us out of here soon. My and Odd's stomachs are both starting to growl, it seems. I hope there's a good enough reason why we're not back there yet."

"You can blame XANA and a blasted puzzle for that, Yumi," said Jeremy. "He really has it in for us right now, it seems."

"How so, if I may ask, Jeremy?"

"There is an extremely difficult puzzle that he left me to try to solve that is keeping you all where you are now. We can't get there, and you can't get here, Yumi. At least while it's still unsolved, anyway."

"Come here, you marshmallow treats," said Odd, all of a sudden, as he began to chase Aelita and Yumi all around the inside of the tower he and they were all in together. "I must have you both!"

"Please hurry, if at all possible, Jeremy! For Odd seems to be getting ready to try turning tiger on us both here," shouted Yumi, even as she suddenly leapt to avoid his grasp in another part of the tower.

"Einstein, get me food and drink! The sooner, the better, of course!" shouted Odd, just as loudly, a few rather brief seconds later.

"Down, boy!" yelled Yumi, as she suddenly sent her fans in his direction, hoping to divert his attention away from Aelita here at least a little bit. Odd leapt at Yumi again, but not quickly enough to avoid being at least grazed by them here. A few Lyoko-related life points for him vanished after Yumi's fans hit him at least a little bit, of course.

Suddenly, he forced both girls out of the tower, following them both as he did so, obviously enough. They fled away from him in two separate directions, and Odd followed Yumi, in fact. Yumi then led him on a somewhat long chase until sheer exhaustion forced him to drop to the ice surface with his Overboard. He suddenly smacked an unseen ice wall with it, and his Overboard vanished almost instantly afterward. Yumi soon came back to where he was, and laid his exhausted body on the back of her Overwing. No more than a few more minutes after that, she came to where she'd located Aelita a few moments earlier, and put her on her Overwing as well. Yumi then brought them back to the same tower they'd all left a little while before, due to Odd having chased both girls out of it. Then she carried them both on her back at the same time, and brought them back into the tower together, for that matter.

Aelita was quite exhausted as well, but not as much as Yumi and Odd now were. Odd was the most exhausted of the three, in fact, for the obvious reasons. Yumi then began to calm herself as much as she possibly could, while also really hoping to be able to slow the rate of her increasing exhaustion down as much as she could at the current time, of course.

Aelita soon drifted off to sleep of a sort, while Odd sank almost into unconsciousness, near where Yumi now sat inside the still-activated tower. Yumi remained at least half-awake, in any case, as the others with her were in no real condition to do the same at the current time inside it.

Level 5 of the XANA-created puzzle was soon decrypted and solved. But before it was, Ulrich had to leave Jeremy alone again in the factory's Computer Room, and rather reluctantly at that, for all the obvious reasons. Jeremy, though, first had Ulrich stash away all the remaining food and drink items in a cool storeroom somewhere else in the factory, for that matter.

Level 6 actually fell at some time around 2 in the afternoon, local time. Level 7, did so at about 5 pm, Paris time. Level 8, at about 8:45 in the evening. Level 9, at about 11:15 pm, local time, most especially after Thomas and Tiffany had also both unexpectedly found themselves trying to help Jeremy on it, right after school ended for Thomas again in St. Peter. Level 10, which somehow proved to actually be the final level of the current XANA-created puzzle, finally was solved and decrypted as needed and desired in its entirety at just about 1 in the morning of Friday, October 12, 2007, Paris time. Ten minutes or so later, at most, then, Yumi and Odd were finally able to leave Lyoko, and Aelita was finally able to de-activate the necessary tower in it. Jeremy then set time back roughly 24 hours, more or less, before finally engaging the Return To The Past program for the factory's main computer, of course.

That took the apparent time for the four non-Lyoko-confined Warriors, in their particular part of France, after the time reversion, back to about 1:20 in the morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, by logical enough extension. They were all returned to the exact same places where they'd been at that very instant in time. No matter where they had been at that time, by the way. All of them, in fact, had been briefly awake at that time, for whatever reasons they'd all been at that time. Time passed as it then should have passed for them for the rest of the morning, prior to the just-foiled XANA double attack, but with no further danger of XANA relaunching said double attacks for at least some yet-unknown length of time, for that matter.

All of them soon went back to sleep wherever they'd actually been sleeping earlier. And eventually, they each woke up in their respective beds quite fully rested and all that, with no trouble whatsoever coming their ways in the meantime. No matter who they were, or where they were, they still did so again here.

* * *

The next chapter of this particular story will be up soon enough here, if at all possible. If you have any good enough ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, as long as they are male-female in nature, I'm quite willing to hear them, in fact. I really hope that you all might come to enjoy this story and its related series quite a bit, of course. Please read and review quite constructively, if at all possible, quite often, if and whenever you might so choose, people. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!" 


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